Well, the title says it all really. I went to the osteopath this morning to see what magic she could work with this shin pain I've been getting. She heard my story, touched my incredibly tender shins and said "textbook shin splints". Hmph. :(
What followed is agony of the highest order. I've never been so lucky as to need a deep tissue type remedial massage and can honestly say next time she can just chop off my lower legs without pain relief - in fact, I'll gladly chop them off myself. It was excruciating beyond that which words can even describe. And just when I thought it was surely almost over, she kept on going!!
On the upside though, I walked out of there an hour later without any pain, and noticeably lighter, looser calf muscles. The pain has somewhat returned, but I'm not altogether sure whether that's the shin pain back, or just the same pain/tenderness as my entire lower leg is feeling right now from her massage. The bruises have already begun to poke through.
So she has ruled out running for a while, at least until I get in to see the podiatrist next Wednesday. I can still do my C25K program on the elliptical trainer, so I don't lose any cardiovascular gains I might have made, or can try gentle walking on grass or swimming. So I'm heading off with a girlfriend for a gentle walk round the local oval tonight once it's cooled down, just to keep active and get some fresh air really.
I'm pretty bummed as you can imagine, but hopefully it'll heal up quickly, and with better shoes and possibly orthotics, I'll be right as rain to keep running soon enough :)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The end of Week 2!
Last night, I am proud to announce, I finished Week 2 of the C25K! Woohoo!
As planned, I ran with a couple girlfriends around a fairly flat track. I ran (ie. jogged slowly) a touch faster and harder than the previous few runs, I think to keep up with the others. I was much more puffed at the end of it, and red as a tomato. That, combined with my new bob haircut (don't ask) and I looked like a light bulb about to explode! I think the heavy cold I have and the fact that I'd forgotten my asthma medication likely didn't help either though, oops!
Next week sees the runs amped up to 3 minutes, from the 90 seconds we were doing this week. I'm really dubious about being able to complete 3 whole minutes of running, seeing as 90 seconds sees my chest burning and screaming for oxygen. I'll give it a go though, but am prepared to repeat a week if need be.
My biggest concern at the moment is this shin pain. I've woken this morning and the pain is still there and a bit worse. If I curl one leg up under me on the couch for a couple minutes, the pain is quite severe, and the rest of the time is just a constant, if that makes sense. I can't get in to see the podiatrist recommended to me for another 2.5 weeks, and was originally planning on continuing the program (though taking it easy) until then, but I'm not sure that's an altogether great plan anymore, considering the pain is just getting worse. I really don' t want to stop running now though, I've got the motivation, I'm enjoying it and if I stop, I'll have to start all over again. By the same token though, I don't want to do any serious damage and develop shin splints, because I'll have to stop running if that happens anyway. So I'm going to call the podiatry clinic and see if he has a cancellation list, or if I can get in to see any of his colleagues any sooner. I might give the osteo a call and see if she can do anything for the pain or has any advice as well, because I just truly have no idea what to do without some professional advice.
Anyway, enough yabbering from me. Enjoy your day!
As planned, I ran with a couple girlfriends around a fairly flat track. I ran (ie. jogged slowly) a touch faster and harder than the previous few runs, I think to keep up with the others. I was much more puffed at the end of it, and red as a tomato. That, combined with my new bob haircut (don't ask) and I looked like a light bulb about to explode! I think the heavy cold I have and the fact that I'd forgotten my asthma medication likely didn't help either though, oops!
Next week sees the runs amped up to 3 minutes, from the 90 seconds we were doing this week. I'm really dubious about being able to complete 3 whole minutes of running, seeing as 90 seconds sees my chest burning and screaming for oxygen. I'll give it a go though, but am prepared to repeat a week if need be.
My biggest concern at the moment is this shin pain. I've woken this morning and the pain is still there and a bit worse. If I curl one leg up under me on the couch for a couple minutes, the pain is quite severe, and the rest of the time is just a constant, if that makes sense. I can't get in to see the podiatrist recommended to me for another 2.5 weeks, and was originally planning on continuing the program (though taking it easy) until then, but I'm not sure that's an altogether great plan anymore, considering the pain is just getting worse. I really don' t want to stop running now though, I've got the motivation, I'm enjoying it and if I stop, I'll have to start all over again. By the same token though, I don't want to do any serious damage and develop shin splints, because I'll have to stop running if that happens anyway. So I'm going to call the podiatry clinic and see if he has a cancellation list, or if I can get in to see any of his colleagues any sooner. I might give the osteo a call and see if she can do anything for the pain or has any advice as well, because I just truly have no idea what to do without some professional advice.
Anyway, enough yabbering from me. Enjoy your day!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Ok, so here I am, sitting in front of the computer with a preschooler running hyperactively around me in circles waiting for the Michael Buble CD to rip onto the computer so it'll play (she IS her Mama's daughter after all) and I'm trying to remember the highlights of the last 5 runs to bring you up to speed to where I am now on this little journey. I've been kindly reminded that I began this blog and then didn't update it with any actual run info, oops!
Week one of C25K was an eye opening experience if I'm honest. It wasn't pretty, at all, but there has never been anyone so proud as me when I finished the last run of the first week! In retrospect, I think I might have made it a touch harder on myself because I ran on the streets around my house - which is in an area known, and named, for it's hills... I'm clever like that. So I returned home that first night, face bright red, and it was suggested that perhaps an ambulance, rather than a shower, might be the first port of call. Family, gotta love em huh. But I survived those 3 runs, I live to tell the tale.
For Week 2, I decided to try out a track around a local park that we usually do PT at. It's soooo much flatter than the hellish hill my parents decided to move into a house on top of and so although this week it amped up to 90 seconds of running from 60 seconds, I found that my lungs actually weren't about to give out on me and I finally had hope for the majority of my run that there was a chance I might NOT spontaneously combust. Refreshing :)
Unfortunately, this week saw a niggle in my shins develop whilst running on Day 1, which fortunately disappeared into the oblivion it belongs in when I finished the run that night. Day 2 saw the niggle return enough to no longer be referred to as a niggle but as a pain that lasted throughout the next day and right into a physio appointment I booked to sort it out on Friday. I was lucky enough to get the biggest douchebag extraordinaire physiotherapist in the Sydney region who really did nothing but put some heat on, electrocute the area and tape up one shin alone with some sports tape to see if it made a difference. So there I was, $30 down (thank god for private health insurance), a shinful of sports tape up and missing an hour of my life I can never get back. The one thing he did say that was worth anything more than the Mintie I took from his receptionist's desk was that perhaps I should see a podiatrist in case it's my feet that are causing the problem. Well thank Einstein, it's good to know you were listening to me when I mentioned that I used to roll in, felt I still was and thought it might be a factor in the shin pain. Good to know that 4 year degree didn't go to waste. Thankfully I had already booked a podiatrist appointment thanks to the wisdom of a lovely friend, which is in a couple weeks time.
So today is Day 3 of Week 2 of the C25K. I'm running with 2 girlfriends for the first time, which I'm a bit concerned about as it'll truly prove exactly how slow I run (which in the runner's world, is a speed somewhat akin to a slow power walk) and how unfit I am. I normally do personal training with them on a Tuesday night, but seeing as they are on this C25K road as well, and I am meant to have started Week 3 already, we've decided to do it tonight together and make up the rest of the hour with PT kind of stuff. I'm hoping the shins hold out for a couple more weeks till I can get them sorted, so wish me luck on that front!
Happy running people!
Week one of C25K was an eye opening experience if I'm honest. It wasn't pretty, at all, but there has never been anyone so proud as me when I finished the last run of the first week! In retrospect, I think I might have made it a touch harder on myself because I ran on the streets around my house - which is in an area known, and named, for it's hills... I'm clever like that. So I returned home that first night, face bright red, and it was suggested that perhaps an ambulance, rather than a shower, might be the first port of call. Family, gotta love em huh. But I survived those 3 runs, I live to tell the tale.
For Week 2, I decided to try out a track around a local park that we usually do PT at. It's soooo much flatter than the hellish hill my parents decided to move into a house on top of and so although this week it amped up to 90 seconds of running from 60 seconds, I found that my lungs actually weren't about to give out on me and I finally had hope for the majority of my run that there was a chance I might NOT spontaneously combust. Refreshing :)
Unfortunately, this week saw a niggle in my shins develop whilst running on Day 1, which fortunately disappeared into the oblivion it belongs in when I finished the run that night. Day 2 saw the niggle return enough to no longer be referred to as a niggle but as a pain that lasted throughout the next day and right into a physio appointment I booked to sort it out on Friday. I was lucky enough to get the biggest douchebag extraordinaire physiotherapist in the Sydney region who really did nothing but put some heat on, electrocute the area and tape up one shin alone with some sports tape to see if it made a difference. So there I was, $30 down (thank god for private health insurance), a shinful of sports tape up and missing an hour of my life I can never get back. The one thing he did say that was worth anything more than the Mintie I took from his receptionist's desk was that perhaps I should see a podiatrist in case it's my feet that are causing the problem. Well thank Einstein, it's good to know you were listening to me when I mentioned that I used to roll in, felt I still was and thought it might be a factor in the shin pain. Good to know that 4 year degree didn't go to waste. Thankfully I had already booked a podiatrist appointment thanks to the wisdom of a lovely friend, which is in a couple weeks time.
So today is Day 3 of Week 2 of the C25K. I'm running with 2 girlfriends for the first time, which I'm a bit concerned about as it'll truly prove exactly how slow I run (which in the runner's world, is a speed somewhat akin to a slow power walk) and how unfit I am. I normally do personal training with them on a Tuesday night, but seeing as they are on this C25K road as well, and I am meant to have started Week 3 already, we've decided to do it tonight together and make up the rest of the hour with PT kind of stuff. I'm hoping the shins hold out for a couple more weeks till I can get them sorted, so wish me luck on that front!
Happy running people!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Hi there and welcome to my little running blog :)
A bit of a back story so you have a bit of an understanding about who I am and why the hell am I doing something so crazy as training for a marathon (even crazier if you knew me personally - lazy is my middle name). So these are the facts about me:
I am 24 years old and I have a daughter in preschool. I am in my final year of studying to be an RN and work as a paediatric nurse in the meantime. I have started doing trapeze lessons. Yes, the trapeze from circuses where you fly through the air and hope the guy on the other trapeze catches you in time. I never ran during our school carnivals, and I've certainly never run just because I could or wanted to. In fact, until a few months ago, exercise was not even a word in my vocabulary, and even since then, it's been a once a week personal training session with my girlfriends, where I'm sure they'd agree that I do more whinging about the exercise than exercise itself.
And the biggest fact about me currently is that I am in my second week of training for a marathon! I am beginning my journey towards a marathon with the running program known as the 'Couch to 5km' and last night completed Day 1 of Week 2. It's a 9 week program, designed to take non-runners and make them able to run 5km (funnily enough!) by the end of it. So that is my first goal - to stick to this program and finish the C25K by the 7th March!
How I got to this goal of running a marathon, of all the possible, much more achievable goals in the world, is beyond me. I'd heard about the C25K years ago, downloaded the podcasts and never stepped out of my front door. Clearly it wasn't a priority. Since then, I have intermittently thought of it, wanting to get fit but never having the motivation. Something snapped though, and here I am.
So my goals for running, this year, are as follows...
Small goal - Finish C25K by 7th March 2010
Medium goal - Complete the Blackmore's Half-Marathon (21km - eek!) in October 2010
Big ass goal - Work on getting up to Marathon Runner status for a marathon sometime in 2011, I'm not sure when they're on nor when is a good timeframe to work towards at this stage.
I am a complete newbie to this running gig, as you know, so this blog may be filled with a whole lot of whinging, complete non-facts about running or any other kind of drivel that pops into my head as a result of doing more exercise this year than in all the years of my life put together.
So wish me luck, send me suggestions, keep me accountable and most importantly of all, my new mantra when it feels my lungs are dying, I'm going to explode, I might spontaneously combust, I might kill the little voice in my earphones that keeps telling me to run or all of the above - feel it, live it, love it!
A bit of a back story so you have a bit of an understanding about who I am and why the hell am I doing something so crazy as training for a marathon (even crazier if you knew me personally - lazy is my middle name). So these are the facts about me:
I am 24 years old and I have a daughter in preschool. I am in my final year of studying to be an RN and work as a paediatric nurse in the meantime. I have started doing trapeze lessons. Yes, the trapeze from circuses where you fly through the air and hope the guy on the other trapeze catches you in time. I never ran during our school carnivals, and I've certainly never run just because I could or wanted to. In fact, until a few months ago, exercise was not even a word in my vocabulary, and even since then, it's been a once a week personal training session with my girlfriends, where I'm sure they'd agree that I do more whinging about the exercise than exercise itself.
And the biggest fact about me currently is that I am in my second week of training for a marathon! I am beginning my journey towards a marathon with the running program known as the 'Couch to 5km' and last night completed Day 1 of Week 2. It's a 9 week program, designed to take non-runners and make them able to run 5km (funnily enough!) by the end of it. So that is my first goal - to stick to this program and finish the C25K by the 7th March!
How I got to this goal of running a marathon, of all the possible, much more achievable goals in the world, is beyond me. I'd heard about the C25K years ago, downloaded the podcasts and never stepped out of my front door. Clearly it wasn't a priority. Since then, I have intermittently thought of it, wanting to get fit but never having the motivation. Something snapped though, and here I am.
So my goals for running, this year, are as follows...
Small goal - Finish C25K by 7th March 2010
Medium goal - Complete the Blackmore's Half-Marathon (21km - eek!) in October 2010
Big ass goal - Work on getting up to Marathon Runner status for a marathon sometime in 2011, I'm not sure when they're on nor when is a good timeframe to work towards at this stage.
I am a complete newbie to this running gig, as you know, so this blog may be filled with a whole lot of whinging, complete non-facts about running or any other kind of drivel that pops into my head as a result of doing more exercise this year than in all the years of my life put together.
So wish me luck, send me suggestions, keep me accountable and most importantly of all, my new mantra when it feels my lungs are dying, I'm going to explode, I might spontaneously combust, I might kill the little voice in my earphones that keeps telling me to run or all of the above - feel it, live it, love it!
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