100*

He nicks one through the slips and there's the century, raises the bat towards the players dressing room and kisses the CR emblem on the front of his cap (ala Michael Slater).
Well it has been a wonderful century, I am still not out but just. ITB felt a tight all day but some stretching loosened it up and I got in a 5k in 30min jog followed by plenty of stretching, icing and massaging.
I meant to run yesterday but I was too sore from GoKarting, who new something like driving little karts really fast is so physical, my arms haven't forgiven me yet. Started at the back of the grid and finished 3rd, not a bad time for my first I thought, it also didn't help that I didn't get to bed till after 5am...oops.
I think I will reflect on my 100 not out when I have time to reflect on all my precious posts.

July in summary

56.2km (oh dear)
6hr 8mins
average weight 116.something (damn)

YTD 793.8km 83hr53mins

Self Diagnosis

I found this Q&A and this is exactly what I have been experiencing so starting today I have entered into a stretching and strengthening routine this article was also encouraging. So yesterday I ran 4k, very slowly and was only in slight discomfort and today I ran 5k at about 6.30min/k pace with slight discomfort and applied the routine mentioned above afterwards. Looks good, hopefully in a month I will be running pain free! but only time, patience and obedience will get me there. next month I think I will continue with these easy short distances to maintain some conditioning, then really hit the straps heading up towards C2B.

Confessions of a serial rester

OK so I have gone for a little run in the last week and a half, it was a 3min jog on the way back from the video store on sunday. Thought I would give my leg a little bit more rest though. A rest which included icecream and icemagic last night...mmmm ice magic.
Seriously, if I keep this up, resting is going to become an addiction...I NEED TO GET BACK RUNNING...and what inspiration just now.
I have now been registered for Corporate Cup starting in 2 weeks (its only 4.5k, which is the longest distance available). What a rocket to get me back out again. I was thinking 2.2k easy tonight to see how I pull up.

No doubt another post tonight. Hopefully it will be a running post!

Edit Later that evening.
I made it out for a 2.2km run. Took it nice and slow taking 14min36sec. legs felt a little grumpy but hopefully that is just due to lack of action, but I did start to feel the beginnings of the dreaded tightness. When I got home I stretched and used liberal amounts of dencorub and anti-infamatories...fingers crossed for tomorrow!

BTW downloading into sportstracks it told me a new version was available and DAMN! I am impressed with the update, it now does stuff I always wanted it to do like this:

(I haven't been weighing myself lately...I don't want to know!)

Decision Pending

OK, have to get real now with no running since Sunday.

Cause: Discovered, what I will call, a knot in my right leg on the outside above the knee. Have spent the last two days trying to massage it out and bought some dencorub last night to assist. It gave me great pain on monday and tuesday as pain developed all the way up through the hip ending in lower back pain during the day. The area is now a little bruised and tender due to the harsh treatment.
I know, I know, I should probably go and see a proffessional Physio or something but I am determined to learn that lesson the hard way and am disinclined to use the time or money over something so trivial. (justification being that I am not a professional athlete).

Now for the getting real part: I am planning to put an entry in for the 10k at the Adelaide Marathon Running Festival as a way of preventing myself from training too hard going for the half. It is a bit of a bugger (did I say bit, I meant HUGE dissapointment) but I really, really want to run well at the City to Bay in September, so this way I am taking the pressure off to recover too fast and train too much.

So what now: For a start, I have said it before to myself and am saying it again...STOP EATING YOURSELF STUPID! Instead of getting home from work and going out for a run, I am now getting home from work and going, what can I do now? I am hungry. I might have a piece of toast with peanut butter. Ooo that was good, how about another... AAAAaaaarrrgghhhh!
Next I will continue treatment today and probably Saturday, assessing on Sunday with a light jog (probably 4k) then if all is well I will ease back into a routine, building up the k's over August for hopefully a decent base for the 12k City to Bay. Here's hopping everything goes to plan.

PS incase you can't tell frustration has definately set in.

The day after...

OK just read Rachel's Blog and her race report is so much better than mine, next time I will try and write one when I am not totally exhausted and tired.
As expected yesterday was a day of penance for running on an all ready sore lower hip. Some great advice from Blkbox and Spark D, thanks for your support, I brought it upon myself and paid the price. My left leg was sore and tight from just above the knee on the outside of my leg all the way up and around to my lower back on the right side.
Luckily the next couple of evenings I have things planned so no temptation to get back out, even for a gentle jog. Best thing is my knee feels fine so now I am just waiting for the rest of me to catch up.

Time to sort the diet out I think, I have started a new "regiment" it involves two cups of water before every meal. This has two purposes:
(1) To keep me properly hydrated.
(2) To decrease my meal sizes.

oh, yeah and the final "regiment":
Stay injury free so that I actually feel like getting up and around the supermarket and shops to make a good dinner. ;o)

15k race report

Well I did start and I did finish so that is a bonus. Cruised along for the first couple of Ks with rachel at a steady 6min/k pace, then she took off and I continued to cruise. It was a little cold but no rain and definately no hail to speak of. At 9k I stopped for a stretch because lower hip type area, will work out exactly what to call it later, was too much to handle anymore and the rest of the way back to the finish was spent shuffling and walking, up one of the sharp short inclines I was walking but it was too painful so I had to run up...don't figure? I must say that dispite the soreness I was also lacking a bit of conditioning and my preperation was far from ideal. Oh well my time of 1hr36 ish will be something to improve on next year.

Finally I saw another CR wearing a cap too, Coolrunner Wardman! he was succesful in breaking his goal time of 1hr30min and I think came in somewhere around 1hr28mins, Rachel came in 1hr22min or something, check her blog for a better estimate.

So in summing up my incoherent ramblings, knee was fine today and no problems there, but outside of top part of right leg, lets call it lower hip, was very stiff and painful.

Pre-run test drive

Successful shopping trip this morning, ended up with a new balance running top. Then still keen to run the 15k river run tomorrow I donned the new top and headed into the cold drizzle for a 4k test lap. started out at 6.30min/k pace and got gradually faster coming home with a 5.30min/km pace. knee was fine, upper thigh was tight and causing some discomfort so after stretching, icing and anti-inflammatories I have made the decision to run tomorrow, but not go all out (I say this now but it will probably change tomorrow). Hope I don't crash and burn.

and off I go...

some respite yesterday as I powered through 35 mins on the stationary bike. I must admit I was watching TV and taking it easy, but used the add breaks as a fartlek interval and powered through those with the tension set at 6 at all times.

Picking Rachel up from the airport in the morning before heading out to the Brooks outlet at Harbour town I have just found out exists! Then I might go for a test run before deciding if I will float through the 15k course of the river run on Sunday. If not I will go for support of Rachel anyway and wearing my CR cap for the first time to a run I hope to meet other Coolrunners like Wardman et al.

Driving home the past couple of nights I have caught myself daydreaming and fondly looking at the footpath as I drive along one of my usual routes. Oh how I miss pounding the pavement, I think I have been going through withdrawals and even though I run alone I have been feeling lonely without my freind concrete pounding my legs.

Time to get out there again and stop being a grumpy, short tempered sour pus.

1 Week

It seems like I have yet again become a lard-arse. I haven't blogged for a week because I have no running to blog about and the very though of a non-running entry just made me depressed. Over the past week I have been doing stretches and excercises (not as frequently as I should) to try and get myself right, is it helping? I don't know and I am a little hesitant to check it yet incase I make it worse. I ran down the hallway last night and it felt fine, then I ran back and it still felt a little proppy. Of late I feel like a car you keep filling up with petrol but never drive anywhere so it is just swelling up and will eventually explode, I keep eating food, but without expending any of the energy (doesn't stop me eating the food though).

I can feel my goals for the rest of the year slipping away, the 15km Torren's Classic on Sunday, the Adelaide Running Festival HM in 6 weeks. Will I be right by then and have enough training in the legs to complete the HM? Today I am trying to determine the best way to make myself happy, do I skip the race on Sunday and take another week off to make sure my injury is beat and then only have 4 weeks get myself up for the HM. This might involve doing too much too soon and doing another injury, or do I let both goals slip and concentrate on my final goal of the City to Bay in under 72mins. So many possibilities.

When do I go out for a test run? I was thinking the weekend and maybe do some cross training on the exercise bike tomorrow and Friday...AARRRGGGGGGGGHHHH WILL THE QUESTIONS NEVER END!

The Gig is up!

Time to admit to myself that I have an injury and stop saying, "nah, it will be all right". What bought this on? well I rested sunday and Monday and the leg felt better today than it has in a week, so after work I pulled on the runners and set off, didn't glance at the watch, so might have been going faster than I should have but after a couple of Kms I felt quite a bit of pain in the calf region and then knee...I stopped and stretched but that only eased the pain for a couple hundred metres...I was shattered and angry with myself that I let it get this far so I turned left and started the walk home, contimplating the next step. Managed to hobble out a few easy kilometers on the way home ending up running 6k. Now a weeks rest is definately in order and as much as I hate it, the excercise bike, is going to get a work out. Now time for some ice and elevation I think!

LSD finally

First real LSD in months today. Managed 15km. The mp3 player ran out of juice at 6k and I was wearing my old shoes, but at least I beat the rain home. PS sports shield didn't work out on the twisties, I should have taken some backup bandaidsbut I was fresh out...yet again ouch.
15k is a good start as I am doing the 15km Torren's Classic in a couple of weeks so two more long runs of 18 and maybe 20k and I might feel at least prepared for it...good start to the august half training as well...goals for July are to develop a good base (40-60km/wk) for the HM in August and to try and remain injury free (that means managing the niggles).

Summary for June.
121.5km
13hr44mins
ave 115.5kg.

seems like I did more than it felt like I was doing and I was not happy with the way I ate my way through June...