A short post to say I'm off on my holidays! We're travelling down to Picardy tomorrow and will be there for the best part of 2 weeks.
By necessity (and design) I'll be unplugged from the net for the duration, but hope to provide at least a little entertainment on my return with a few photos and confessions about lazing around.
I am, however, taking the bike and Mr Garmin and fully expect to be cycling to the local boulangerie each morning. I hope I can find one a handy 3-4 miles away to keep me burning off all that croisant and foie gras.
This week's cycling was just Monday and Wednesday, Thursday night we had some friends round and it ended up a pretty late evening, so I guiltily ditched Friday morning.
Monday - Bike 6 miles / 30 minutes
Wednesday - Bike 6 miles / 30 minutes
All the best.
Mr Stumble
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
(In) Flexible
As per last post, I took the "blue pill" and went to see a Podiatrist today. After taking some history and a brief look at my diary of disaster, dumped out from Google Calender, she got down to the business of bio-mechanical assessment.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how flat my feet are, and "C" wanted to investigate if there were any related problems in my legs which would exacerbate my over-pronation and thus lead to injury.
The good news is that my legs are the same length and I can walk.
The bad news is that I have substantially less flexibility in my calf and hams than would be normally expected. The main test for this was lying on my back and having one leg raised up, whilst kept straight at the knee, until it starts to strain. I managed about 50 to 60 degrees lift, when a normal person would expect to be much closer to 90 degrees. In addition, I have limited flexibility when stretching the calf muscle by raising my toes towards my shin.
This flexibility in the ankles is pretty important when running (hey! I'm an expert now!), as a lack of flexibility will increase the amount of pronation as the foot rolls forward.
And one leg was just as bad as the other.
So, how do I deal with this? The main two things I need to do are:
- stay off running whilst the calf heals up properly. Bah.
- undertake twice daily stretching of the calf and hams in order to gradually increase the flexibility and range of movement and thus reduce the chance of injury.
Shoe inserts to help with over-pronation are a possibility in the future, but I need to sort out the stretching and flexibility before we decide if inserts are necessary.
She also took a look at the shoes I'm using. The brand - Pearl Izumi - wasn't familiar, but I think she was happy with my general process of selection - which involved taking advice at a proper running store, trying the shoes and not being bothered with brand names.
However, there are some shoe features which she was at least a little concerned about - the shoes have some edge cut-outs which remove about 5mm of support from the sole in 3 small sections (back and both sides) around the outside of the shoe. These might adversely affect foot strike and roll, but I do find them comfortable to wear.
You can see the cut-outs in the picture here:
I'm considering trying different shoes, perhaps a little Pepsi challenge once I'm back on the roads again.
My stretching exercises are:
Twice a day
- 10 leg lifts per leg, holding 20 seconds when the muscle becomes taught under strain (this is best assisted by someone to do the lifting, but can be managed using a towel around the foot and hauled into the air)
- 10 calf stretches, using a stair, standing with the ball of my foot on the step and dropping my heel over the edge to stretch the calf muscle, hold for 20 seconds.
I'll also be back with my local physio soon to see if there is anything she can do to assist or measure progress.
Meanwhile, back on the bike, which was what I was doing Monday morning and plan to be out for a further 6 miles again tomorrow.
Mr Stumble.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how flat my feet are, and "C" wanted to investigate if there were any related problems in my legs which would exacerbate my over-pronation and thus lead to injury.
The good news is that my legs are the same length and I can walk.
The bad news is that I have substantially less flexibility in my calf and hams than would be normally expected. The main test for this was lying on my back and having one leg raised up, whilst kept straight at the knee, until it starts to strain. I managed about 50 to 60 degrees lift, when a normal person would expect to be much closer to 90 degrees. In addition, I have limited flexibility when stretching the calf muscle by raising my toes towards my shin.
This flexibility in the ankles is pretty important when running (hey! I'm an expert now!), as a lack of flexibility will increase the amount of pronation as the foot rolls forward.
And one leg was just as bad as the other.
So, how do I deal with this? The main two things I need to do are:
- stay off running whilst the calf heals up properly. Bah.
- undertake twice daily stretching of the calf and hams in order to gradually increase the flexibility and range of movement and thus reduce the chance of injury.
Shoe inserts to help with over-pronation are a possibility in the future, but I need to sort out the stretching and flexibility before we decide if inserts are necessary.
She also took a look at the shoes I'm using. The brand - Pearl Izumi - wasn't familiar, but I think she was happy with my general process of selection - which involved taking advice at a proper running store, trying the shoes and not being bothered with brand names.
However, there are some shoe features which she was at least a little concerned about - the shoes have some edge cut-outs which remove about 5mm of support from the sole in 3 small sections (back and both sides) around the outside of the shoe. These might adversely affect foot strike and roll, but I do find them comfortable to wear.
You can see the cut-outs in the picture here:
I'm considering trying different shoes, perhaps a little Pepsi challenge once I'm back on the roads again.
My stretching exercises are:
Twice a day
- 10 leg lifts per leg, holding 20 seconds when the muscle becomes taught under strain (this is best assisted by someone to do the lifting, but can be managed using a towel around the foot and hauled into the air)
- 10 calf stretches, using a stair, standing with the ball of my foot on the step and dropping my heel over the edge to stretch the calf muscle, hold for 20 seconds.
I'll also be back with my local physio soon to see if there is anything she can do to assist or measure progress.
Meanwhile, back on the bike, which was what I was doing Monday morning and plan to be out for a further 6 miles again tomorrow.
Mr Stumble.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
A bitter pill.
Ran again this morning, the usual 8:1 reps for 30 minutes. 2.65 miles. 9:56 pace. Compression again, 5 minute walking warm up. My normal unimpressive efforts.
Calf sore after the run as usual, but nothing worse. At 11am, I'm in with the physio. She treated me for an achilles tendon problem towards the end of last year and that cleared up with several sessions of ultrasound.
This time she's looking at muscle elasticity, the area of pain, pronation, posture, stretching and warm up regime, even unevenness in leg length and probably a load more she didn't mention, or I've forgotten.
We discuss the various opinions out there on whether stretching before running is good or bad, and the value of the warm up. Also, how valuable stretching is as part of recovery from muscle damage, to promote a smoother healed muscle with less or no cell "bunching" or other such bodily disorderliness.
Given the history and my foot-flatness, she recommends a podiatrist for a specialist assessment of my lower leg bio-mechanics and how my shoes are really working out for me.
A phone call later, we have the number of a recommended local Podiatrist who does private work. The NHS waiting list for this stuff is very long and full of people with much worse problems than I have. No insurance cover on this though, bah! PPP don't recognise podiatry as an insurable branch of health care provision. Podiatric surgery, yes, gait analysis, no.
So, I need an assessment from someone more specialised, but there are general rules my physio gives me: if I must run, don't go beyond where I am now without advice. If I can, switch to something non impact for a couple of months. And get qualified podiatric advice ASAP.
To get the lay of the land, when I get home I give the Active Body Centre place recommended a call. I end up, not with a receptionist, but with the head physio who, apparently with some time on her hands, takes some of the history and gives me some general advice.
With calf injuries, the normal healing time is 6 to 8 weeks. Recurring strain or damage to the calf just extends the time it takes to heal. I should stop running, as:
- I've reached a limitation which prevents me from improving and is not helping me build general cardiovascular fitness.
- I have post run pain after every run, albeit in varying degrees.
In all likelihood, if I continue, I won't improve and will just maintain a damaged calf which will never heal properly and will not achieve the potential general fitness benefits available through other activities.
However, this general guidance needs to be tempered by the fact that this isn't a full assessment, just a verbal review of the history. My recommended choices are:
- (red pill) wait 6-8 weeks (it would be 6 wouldn't it, not 8!) and then start out running again. In the meantime, move to an alternative fitness regime: cycling; swimming; elliptical trainers at a gym, to build general fitness whilst things are left to sort themselves out without impact, assisted by regular stretching and ice. If it blows again, get professional help.
- (blue pill) get the podiatrist's assessment now, and probably end up doing the same regime, but with more knowledge about my bio-mechanics to help avoid things going wrong again.
Not one to want to wait in the dark when there is a light available, I'm going for the blue pill (I know, Neo took the red one). And I'm sure it will be bitter. I'm likely to get assessed next Tuesday - a whole hour of tests and analysis for £60.
So this might have been my last run for a while. I can tell that tales of the bike are even less interesting than my sorry tales of running, but I'll keep posting anyway and reading your blogs with envy.
Mr Stumble (soon to be Mr Wobbly).
Calf sore after the run as usual, but nothing worse. At 11am, I'm in with the physio. She treated me for an achilles tendon problem towards the end of last year and that cleared up with several sessions of ultrasound.
This time she's looking at muscle elasticity, the area of pain, pronation, posture, stretching and warm up regime, even unevenness in leg length and probably a load more she didn't mention, or I've forgotten.
We discuss the various opinions out there on whether stretching before running is good or bad, and the value of the warm up. Also, how valuable stretching is as part of recovery from muscle damage, to promote a smoother healed muscle with less or no cell "bunching" or other such bodily disorderliness.
Given the history and my foot-flatness, she recommends a podiatrist for a specialist assessment of my lower leg bio-mechanics and how my shoes are really working out for me.
A phone call later, we have the number of a recommended local Podiatrist who does private work. The NHS waiting list for this stuff is very long and full of people with much worse problems than I have. No insurance cover on this though, bah! PPP don't recognise podiatry as an insurable branch of health care provision. Podiatric surgery, yes, gait analysis, no.
So, I need an assessment from someone more specialised, but there are general rules my physio gives me: if I must run, don't go beyond where I am now without advice. If I can, switch to something non impact for a couple of months. And get qualified podiatric advice ASAP.
To get the lay of the land, when I get home I give the Active Body Centre place recommended a call. I end up, not with a receptionist, but with the head physio who, apparently with some time on her hands, takes some of the history and gives me some general advice.
With calf injuries, the normal healing time is 6 to 8 weeks. Recurring strain or damage to the calf just extends the time it takes to heal. I should stop running, as:
- I've reached a limitation which prevents me from improving and is not helping me build general cardiovascular fitness.
- I have post run pain after every run, albeit in varying degrees.
In all likelihood, if I continue, I won't improve and will just maintain a damaged calf which will never heal properly and will not achieve the potential general fitness benefits available through other activities.
However, this general guidance needs to be tempered by the fact that this isn't a full assessment, just a verbal review of the history. My recommended choices are:
- (red pill) wait 6-8 weeks (it would be 6 wouldn't it, not 8!) and then start out running again. In the meantime, move to an alternative fitness regime: cycling; swimming; elliptical trainers at a gym, to build general fitness whilst things are left to sort themselves out without impact, assisted by regular stretching and ice. If it blows again, get professional help.
- (blue pill) get the podiatrist's assessment now, and probably end up doing the same regime, but with more knowledge about my bio-mechanics to help avoid things going wrong again.
Not one to want to wait in the dark when there is a light available, I'm going for the blue pill (I know, Neo took the red one). And I'm sure it will be bitter. I'm likely to get assessed next Tuesday - a whole hour of tests and analysis for £60.
So this might have been my last run for a while. I can tell that tales of the bike are even less interesting than my sorry tales of running, but I'll keep posting anyway and reading your blogs with envy.
Mr Stumble (soon to be Mr Wobbly).
Monday, August 07, 2006
Catan.
Well, I didn't get the bike out on Sunday evening. Instead, D and I decided we needed to entice my daughter out of her room for a few hours and socialise with the family, rather than with her MSN friends.
We enjoy board games from time to time and a current favourite is "Settlers of Catan" for which most other things can stop, so we gave the game an airing, with the Seafarers expansion for a change. D thrashed us.
Family matters sorted for a while, I set the alarm time for an early morning outing - but forgot to click the switchy thing to make it actually go off at 6:30. At 7am, I'm blearily staring at the numbers trying to figure out what day it is and what I should be doing. Ah. Get up ... run ... shower ... eat ... drive to work ... perform design miracles on computer networks ... drive home. A plan. I might achieve some of it.
I know that my leg is going to complain about it, but as discussed previously, I'm starting to dislike cycling, so I'll take my chances again. A walk to the end of the road and then 8:1s again as this seems like a reasonable balance point at the moment.
For a change, I decide to run with a compression/support bandage on my calf and I think this might have helped by keeping my calf muscle from flapping around, whilst also apparantly slowing me down further, the whole run averaging a 10:09/mile pace, far slower than normal.
The first half mile went with the usual calf tightness and a slight mistep off a cambered pavement onto the road brought a sudden stab of pain, but thankfully only momentarily. It was an "oh my God" moment though - I must be more careful on that corner. At the 15 minute mark, both calf muscles felt warmed up and pretty relaxed about the whole thing - even when climbing uphill - and the remainder of the run went nice and easy.
So, yes, my leg is now sore. Yes, I'll be icing it (in about 5 minutes) and yes, I aim to go again Wednesday morning before my Physio appointment.
Update you then!
Mr Stumble.
We enjoy board games from time to time and a current favourite is "Settlers of Catan" for which most other things can stop, so we gave the game an airing, with the Seafarers expansion for a change. D thrashed us.
Family matters sorted for a while, I set the alarm time for an early morning outing - but forgot to click the switchy thing to make it actually go off at 6:30. At 7am, I'm blearily staring at the numbers trying to figure out what day it is and what I should be doing. Ah. Get up ... run ... shower ... eat ... drive to work ... perform design miracles on computer networks ... drive home. A plan. I might achieve some of it.
I know that my leg is going to complain about it, but as discussed previously, I'm starting to dislike cycling, so I'll take my chances again. A walk to the end of the road and then 8:1s again as this seems like a reasonable balance point at the moment.
For a change, I decide to run with a compression/support bandage on my calf and I think this might have helped by keeping my calf muscle from flapping around, whilst also apparantly slowing me down further, the whole run averaging a 10:09/mile pace, far slower than normal.
The first half mile went with the usual calf tightness and a slight mistep off a cambered pavement onto the road brought a sudden stab of pain, but thankfully only momentarily. It was an "oh my God" moment though - I must be more careful on that corner. At the 15 minute mark, both calf muscles felt warmed up and pretty relaxed about the whole thing - even when climbing uphill - and the remainder of the run went nice and easy.
So, yes, my leg is now sore. Yes, I'll be icing it (in about 5 minutes) and yes, I aim to go again Wednesday morning before my Physio appointment.
Update you then!
Mr Stumble.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
"In irons".
Following my GP visit last week, an appointment duly arrived in the post on Wednesday to see the in-house physio for an assessment. That'll be next Wednesday, so I've a short while to wait until I find out if anything can be done locally, or I move on to some sort of specialist ... somewhere.
In the meantime, I rested through the weekend and took the bike out again on Tuesday for another 6 miles dicing with death in traffic. There are two or three parts of the route where I cross busy main roads whilst trying to keep the wheels rolling.
I used to cycle to school, half a life ago, and balancing on a static bike in the middle of a busy road waiting for a gap was second nature back then. However, I feel a lot more mortal now, so gaps need to be way longer. I also don't try that trick of following a bus so closely, the particular motion of the air behind the bus draws you up hills. You just have to be really quick on the brakes if the bus suddenly slows.
I adjusted the bike route slightly to allow me to join traffic for a couple of hundred yards before crossing into my target side road, which seemed to work OK this time, but might be troublesome in very heavy traffic. We'll see how that goes. The total distance this time was 6.1 miles taking 30 minutes exactly - if we ignore the 1 second it takes to hit the stop button on Mr Garmin. An average pace of 4:55/mile varying between around 2:55 on the swooping downhills and 9:something on some of the inclines.
Definitely sweat inducing though.
On Friday, I had a day off work and managed to fit into a packed schedule of gardening a 30 minute run. I had planned to take the bike out, but:
a) didn't feel like it
b) didn't feel any problems in my calf
c) wanted to be sure there was at least something to talk with the Physio about on Wednesday
So, back to the normal circuit, keeping it at 8:1 run:walk. What I find amazing is that the rest of me really feels it can do a lot more than this and I find that when Mr Garmin chirps up to say "walk" I really don't want to - I want to just keep going. However, I know that if I do, I'm going to do a load more damage.
I set out again with a warm up walk to the end of the road and then kicked off. Within a hundred yards, I could feel the tightness in the calf muscle, but nothing nasty. Last time, I know I began to favour my left leg and in doing so put extra strain on my right, so I was keen not to do that this time and just try to keep an even kilter and a steady easy pace.
Things stayed much the same all around. I was a little fast on my first downhill 8 minutes, 9:13 pace, but more consistent on the middle two at 9:47 and 9:48 through the uphill sections. The final 3 minute section (i.e. 8+1+8+1+8+1+3) averaged a 9:34 pace.
Following the run, I've been icing and compressing a couple of times a day. I might get the bike out this evening as my calf is still pretty tight now, 48 hours on. Hopefully I can maintain some running with cycling over the coming weeks and not be instructed to stop by the physio!
So, not much forward, but not back either, thus "in irons".
Mr Stumble.
In the meantime, I rested through the weekend and took the bike out again on Tuesday for another 6 miles dicing with death in traffic. There are two or three parts of the route where I cross busy main roads whilst trying to keep the wheels rolling.
I used to cycle to school, half a life ago, and balancing on a static bike in the middle of a busy road waiting for a gap was second nature back then. However, I feel a lot more mortal now, so gaps need to be way longer. I also don't try that trick of following a bus so closely, the particular motion of the air behind the bus draws you up hills. You just have to be really quick on the brakes if the bus suddenly slows.
I adjusted the bike route slightly to allow me to join traffic for a couple of hundred yards before crossing into my target side road, which seemed to work OK this time, but might be troublesome in very heavy traffic. We'll see how that goes. The total distance this time was 6.1 miles taking 30 minutes exactly - if we ignore the 1 second it takes to hit the stop button on Mr Garmin. An average pace of 4:55/mile varying between around 2:55 on the swooping downhills and 9:something on some of the inclines.
Definitely sweat inducing though.
On Friday, I had a day off work and managed to fit into a packed schedule of gardening a 30 minute run. I had planned to take the bike out, but:
a) didn't feel like it
b) didn't feel any problems in my calf
c) wanted to be sure there was at least something to talk with the Physio about on Wednesday
So, back to the normal circuit, keeping it at 8:1 run:walk. What I find amazing is that the rest of me really feels it can do a lot more than this and I find that when Mr Garmin chirps up to say "walk" I really don't want to - I want to just keep going. However, I know that if I do, I'm going to do a load more damage.
I set out again with a warm up walk to the end of the road and then kicked off. Within a hundred yards, I could feel the tightness in the calf muscle, but nothing nasty. Last time, I know I began to favour my left leg and in doing so put extra strain on my right, so I was keen not to do that this time and just try to keep an even kilter and a steady easy pace.
Things stayed much the same all around. I was a little fast on my first downhill 8 minutes, 9:13 pace, but more consistent on the middle two at 9:47 and 9:48 through the uphill sections. The final 3 minute section (i.e. 8+1+8+1+8+1+3) averaged a 9:34 pace.
Following the run, I've been icing and compressing a couple of times a day. I might get the bike out this evening as my calf is still pretty tight now, 48 hours on. Hopefully I can maintain some running with cycling over the coming weeks and not be instructed to stop by the physio!
So, not much forward, but not back either, thus "in irons".
Mr Stumble.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
