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simon college, running , , Comment

Undoubtably the next week is going to be monumental. My wife is now beyond her due date so the arrival of our son is highly likely. We are both becoming anxious now and just want him to be here already!

Tomorrow is also my first day of college. The long road to my degree begins. I am a little nervous about mobility issues but not so much the lessons. I am frantically converting books to ePub as I write this in preparation for the morning. I just hope it all works! I will detail my first day in a blog post tomorrow.

This week will also be my first double digit long run. Saturday holds the possibility of a 10 mile run. This may be jeopardised by labour or a little baby. Hopefully I will find a sneaky couple of hours to complete the run!

Looking forward to a truly life changing week.

Waiting on eBay

simon running , 2 Comments

On my last run I managed to tweak my left knee. I assign blame squarely on the cyclists I was forced to dodge. Pesky cyclists!

I decided to rest my knee for a full day and hope for the best. With the pain still present when walking, I thought back to my ankle. Rather than hoping for the best I decided to get on eBay and order a Vulkan knee support. The previous Vulkan ankle support was fantastic in aiding in my recovery, so I have high hopes for the knee support.

With the order placed I became even more recovery conscious and cracked out the ice pack. Laid back in my leather armchair I ate a sneaky Snickers ice cream as the ice pack worked its magic. At the end of the ice cream I noticed the ice pack no longer seemed cold on my leg.

I removed the ice pack and felt some kind of sticker on the back of my knee. I tried multiple times to peel it off. Then I realised, it wasn’t a sticker at all, I had frozen my skin. I panicked and rushed upstairs to show Sian, thankfully no permanent damage. But a great reminded not to leave the ice pack on to long.

I am hoping the knee support arrived in time for sundays run. Otherwise I wont be running till next week.

Hitting The Miles

simon running , 3 Comments

Recently getting anywhere near the computer has been a challenge. My wife has been hogging the computer as she works on her hand made plushy store.

My running is progressing nicely at this point. I have lost my guide runner, so I now rely on a nice strech of road for all my runs. This has been a far easier transition that I first feared, so hopefully the miles will keep on rolling by.

My feet are starting to take a real pounding with blisters being an all to common occurrence. Some new equipment is definitely in order, my shoes are falling apart. I have nearly worn through the sole! I should be able to afford a new pair sometime next month so the duct tape might be making an appearance.

CrossFit has also returned to my weekly schedule, I am currently trying to fit in 3 workouts a week. 60 BW deadlifts and a 4 mile run was a challenge on my core. But crossfit is all about pushing the limits of fitness.

Time to throw some weight about my head and do some running.

The Ups and Downs of Running

simon running , 2 Comments

Overcoming my recent injury has been incredibly difficult, the levels of fatigue seem new and unkown. In recent memory I was able to get up early on a Sunday and do a leisurely 7 miles. This Sunday the best I could achieve was 3.15.

On Saturday night I became a little bored and decided to run some sprints. So I headed down to the local football pitches and ran lengths. I would run a length than walk the distance back and repeat, in total I covered a little over a mile. Pushing the limits of speed felt great as I was running double my usual pace.

As the rain began to pour traction was rapidly decreasing so I headed home. Waking up in the morning I was *sore* determined to complete my sunday distance run, we headed out. I realised I was in trouble when a the throbbing in my thighs began within the first 10m. Last nights sprints had broken me. I dug deep and managed a few meagre miles at a 10:00 pave before phone for the cavalry.

Lesson well and truly learnt, do not sprint in the late evening!

A Reminder of What is Possible

simon Fitness, running , 4 Comments

With a fantastic diet of: 2 pancakes, a chicken sandwich, protein shake and a slice of toast, I was under fuelled and ready to run. After a quick conversation with my guide runner he was unable to make it. Dammit I wanted to hit the tarmac.

Near my house there is a small strip of tarmac around 1.6 miles long that is perfect. Wide path, no lampposts and more importantly no pedestrians. I decided without my guide runner this strip of asphalt may be possible. After persuading my wife I wouldn’t die she reluctantly dropped me at the far end.

With no assistance apart from the thumping beat of Jay-Z I began my run. The first mile I had to hug the curb to avoid a few trees, after a long curve to the right time to swap to the left of the path. Reaching the end of the first mile I had a rush of excitement, for the first time in over 2 years I was running on my own.

No guide runner, no cane, no GPS just me and my iPhone. The way it used to be. It was a fantastic feeling and I wish it had lasted. But the burning of my lungs began at the 3 mile marker and I took a little rest. The run wasnt over yet, I had to get to the pick up point another 1.5 miles away. I dug deep and completed the run.

Overall the run was a fantastic reminder of what is possible. It is far to easy to become over reliant on the assistance and aids provided. I will continue to push myself to see what is possible.

100 miles will be mine.

A Mile Too Far..

simon Fitness, running , 2 Comments

My return to running has been far more difficult than anticipated. The ankle pain has gone but taken my stamina alone too.

I figured a couple of runs and I would be back at full strength, instead nearing the 3 mile mark yesterday I felt my lungs collapsing. Where did it all go wrong? A month ago I was happy with my goal of a 100 mile run next year. Now the thought seems impossible; I can’t even run 3 miles!

My guide runner graciously stopped running during my injury in the hope we would stay at the same level. This didn’t pan out as hoped, as he seems to be coping with the return far better than I. As I struggle on the familiar home straights he stretches out and runs ahead.

Starting so far back in my training programme is incredibly demoralising, 2 months hard work wiped out by an awry foot strike. Damn you Bawtry Road and your crappy paving!

Slow Recovery, Slow Posting

simon Fitness, Life, running , Comment

While my ankle continues to heal I find my blog posts have dropped off. Until my injury I hadn’t realised how important and reliant I had become on my running. With my vision difficulties and my wife working through the week, I rarely leave the house. So my main outlet for fitness and socialising was my running.

My guide runner has been coming round to visit in the day times, but it simply isn’t the same. Venturing out and running the local streets gave me the freedom I strive for. The injury is having a serious impact. In an effort to hit the streets quicker I have ordered a Vulkan ankle brace. This should allow me to run through part of the recovery period.

This also means I will miss my first ever competitive race. It was schedules for next week, I am confident I could complete the small distance, but the prospect of further injury and a slow time is not appealing. So regrettably I will miss the race in the hopes of coming back stronger later in the year.

Race For Life

simon Fitness, running , Comment

On the hottest day of the year I began the long walk to the start line. My sister was running/walking in the Race For Life 5km. With the closest parking being just over a mile away it was the first test for my ankle. Pain free we arrived at the staging area.

My sister was already in the starting area so we were quickly trying to make our way to the front so her 2 boys could see the start. Hoisted above my head we caught a quick glimpse of my sister as the race began.

Knowing the competitive women would post great a time we made our way over to the finish line. 18 minutes had passed and not a runner in sight, I put this down to the heat and terrain as in local races the competitive women usually post around 16-17 mins.

Around the 23 minute mark the first competitor reached the home straight, with a rouse of applause they crossed the line. It would be another 1 minute 30 before second place. As the time ticked by many of the more athletic women began to collapse and vomit a mere 50m from the finish line. The heat and dehydration seemed to be affecting a number of the female competitors.

Watching the dehydrated women made me wonder how I will complete a 100m race. Will I be this ill? Rather than this being an off putting thought it inspired me to enter some competitive races. I want to push myself to the limit and beyond like these women were.

My sister completed the race with a final sprint and a time of 46 minutes, a great time for my sister as she only began running 2 weeks ago.

The injury is healing quickly thanks to compression and rest, so I am quietly hopeful I may make my race in a couple of weeks. I have revised my target time to a 25 minute for the 5k as this injury has meant no speed work for a month.

Injured

simon Fitness, Life, running , , Comment

On my last run I was nursing a painful foot/ankle. After resting for over a week I was still unable to put my full body weight on my right ankle. Begrudgingly I headed to the Dr’s.

A quick diagnosis of an ankle sprain seemed simple. Thankfully nothing was broken I was happy and assumed I would be back on the road in a matter of days. Turns out I had no idea how serious ankle sprains can be, up to 3 months recovery. Upon hearing the news my heart sank, 18 weeks of training had come to an end. I would miss my first ever race and may even be out the entire summer.

On the way home from the Dr’s I bought a couple of ankle supports and sat down for some internet research. All the information I found confirmed what the Dr had told me, a long recovery time with little chance of a speedy recovery. I did manage to pickup a few tips, so hopefully with the use of the RICE method and a good 1-2 week rest I should be back.

For those interested the RICE method involves:

R- Rest
I – Ice
C – Compression
E – Elevation

My summer workout is going to take some modification as I would like to try and retain my fitness levels during the recovery period. So I will be hitting the weights hard over the next 2 weeks.

Performing as a Blind Runner

simon Fitness, Life, running , 1 Comment

Increasing performance is something that you work on over time. Changing a few methods here, fiddling with the diet there, a change of equipment, a whole host of changes contribute towards increased performance.

For myself it works slightly differently, as my performance is not dictated by my own actions, but by the joint performance of me and my guide runner.

If I feel particularly fresh I cant simply sprint ahead and put in a faster mile or even do a sprint finish. I move along at my guide runners pace. Which of course in turn means my guide runners pace is also dictated by my performance.

This makes for a very interesting and unique relationship, we can only perform better as a unit. This is proving especially difficult as I am currently injured. This was highlighted in our last run where our pace was the slowest to date.

With our performance being so dependant on the other, failure is not an option. Stopping mid run means letting the other person down, not to mention a long walk home. So regardless of pain, exhaustion and dehydration the runs are completed.

Our last run was especially painful as I am currently sporting an ankle injury. For the last 2 miles it was simply a case of pain management, I completed the run with the thought, “Must not stop, I cannot let the team down!”.