end of 2012

Looks like I'm not going to get a run in before next year... it's 3pm on nye, so basically there is no chance. Plus it's foul weather (and has been for about the past 2 weeks) all of which adds up to me not having run for an awfully long time.

So I will have to find some motivation to get myself out there again next year.
Tomorrow...

Happy New Year!!
x

2 weeks

It's a bit of a long time between runs - even I can recover in less time than that... My excuse is that I had to work last weekend and so the running disappeared.
Yesterday's run was OK - the weather was fab - bright and cold - ideal for running.  Mind, I was struggling by the end of the 30 mins and I only did a shade over 3 miles so I have a long way to go if I will ever want to do another 1/2 marathon.
Getting up to 5 miles would feel like an achievement....

Injuries 24 hours later:
1. aching calfs but nothing too bad
2. an instep blister, right foot (haven't had one of those for 3 years. Perhaps socks would be in order...)
3. weird pain in left foot around the break, but I'm hoping this is a settling in / adaptation sort of pain. In yoga the other day I nticed my left toes were a bit higgledy piggledy compared with my right foot so I guess I still need to make some adjustments.

The best advice really would be to run more I guess...

Oh the pain...

...and the mud, sweat and almost tears...

I ran around the downs for the first time since I broke my foot. It was OK. It was also very muddy.

My calfs are now very sore but the rest of me os ok - achilles, feet, legs, knees... actually my knees are not good. Age and running.

30 minutes of hell

So, yeah I've done another 30 minute run - but it was truly hard work. And I have a feeling that tomorrow my calves are going to be burning.
But it's a start...

Cautiously Optimistic

Yesterday - after putting it off for an age* - I ran for over 30 minutes. Not much over 30 mins, but I had only plugged 20mins into the nike+

I am well pleased with myself.

Everything felt ok - after a small niggle of achilles heel at the start. I was trying to remember everything the physio had told me and it workd - arm-pumping was quite effective even if it means using up more energy. Also it helps prevents twisting which I am prone to.

So perhaps it's all coming together and I can pound the pavements once more with confidence.

*it's a confidence thing - I don't want to break my foot again, I don't want to hurt my achilles again.

Perhaps it's time to treat myself to more running kit!!!

Could today be a turning point?

Ran for 19'22" without collapsing in achilles-based agony.

It was ok. There was a bit of an ache there, but I was concentrating on trying to run on my left foot the same as on my right and also to not land too vertically on my toes, so I ended up a bit flat-footed, a bit heely, but I think it was OK.

And I covered 3.34 km which I have worked out very roughly as 9'16" a mile - pretty much the same as before. Not bad considering I'm so unfit.

Has the yoga helped? not entirely sure but it won't have done any harm.

So I'm back at the physio again tomorrow - wonder if I will finally be signed off. I kind of hope so. Much as I enjoy the attention, I think the £40 a pop is adding up and I'm aware of what I have to do in order to get me back on the road again

yoga

Well, I knew it would have to happen eventually - I've been back to yoga for the first time in months.
And it's good.

Painful, awkward, frustrating, but good.

It may be the key to getting back running as it focuses on stretching all kinds of large, deep muscles and joints, which have been my downfall.
Of course I have to commit to going every week (and doing some in between) and it's 90 minutes a session which gets a bit dull BUT it's a Good Thing to do.

I will be yogaing again this Thursday which is the day I'm supposed to be having a trial run to see how my achilles is faring, but that will have to wait til Friday.

Also I'm going to attempt the 5:2 diet lifestyle thing this week (and commit it to it until Christmas????) which is basically 2 days a week of extremely restricted fasting (500 cals) and normal eating for the rest of the time. For various reasons it's going to be extremely hard to carry this off, but I feel I need to do something to fight this middle-aged spread thing (I thought it was a myth - I was so terribly wrong)

Wish me luck...

the final stretch?

Well, I've been back to the physio and he's stretched my foot. Something to do with mobility in my foot I think, so he was manipulating the metatarsals, culminating with a 'hold onto the bed' followed by a fairly substantial yank.
No sniggering at the back.
My foot clicked and the slight lump under my 3rd metatarsal had gone.

This may be the final link in the chain of adjustments to get me back up and running. Fingers crossed.
10 days before the next run to ease my achilles (which is a little bit swollen) and then a final (?) trip to the physio.

My third toe now has a kink in it which I'm sure wasn't there before...

double dang

Went for a run in my old shoes - and the achilles problem started even earlier.

Something else for my lovely physio to sort out for me.

The knee pain he sorted out last time has been totally brilliant - I now don't have a knee problem

Just an achilles problem...

Resting and stretching until Monday's appointment methinks...

Dang

On Sunday I started out on a 20+ minuter - but after 15 mins I had to stop and walk.
Achilles and calves.
I was convinced my achilles were about to explode so walking felt like the right thing to do
Happily today (2 days later) they're not bad at all.

I will probably go for a run this evening - but in my old shoes. I'll be pleased if I can do 30 mins with just the feeling that I'm a bit out of breath rather than in agony of biomechanical proportions.
If I do feel OK I guess I'll continue to run in the old trainers (but toe-striking as such as possible) and go for diddly runs in the merrells to bring up my endurance. It feels like a step backwards to go back into the padded shoes frankly and I don't like it.

Is this right?

22 min run last night
4.22km
which means 8.4 mins/mile which is faster than I used to run before my foot broke and before I got into this minimal running thing.

Can this possibly be correct?

I guess I will have to do more runs to find out

I do feel good for having done it and - apart from feeling a bit tired in the muscle dept - it felt good to be running. Although 20 mins or so is about as much as I want to be doing for now.
Building up to 5 miles is my next challenge. Beyond that, who knows...

I am back with the physio on Thursday which might help sort out my runner's knee...

20 minutes

not too unhappy with a 20 minute run - did 2.32 miles which I'm quite happy about.

But today I have aching calves/calfs (carves?)
Hopefully it'll wear off and I can do another 20+ minutes tomorrow

Tailing off...

I have been on a run or 2 since that last one, but nothing recently. Perhaps my love of running was all in my head and I only missed it when I couldn't do it and now I can, it's lost its charm...

Whatevs, I think I ought to keep it up and get back into the habit.

Actually my knees have been giving me that 'runner's knee' twinge for the past few days so perhaps it's a good thing I'm not running. And that is a good excuse.

righteous glow

Have just pounded the mean streets of St Andrews for 11mins 36"
The weird thing is - it's my right foot which feels worse... not sure if that's to do with having weak and inflexible arches or what - but there is a definite difference and it's my right foot which is worse.

Hey ho - will try and go for a 15-min run tomorrow morning and from then aim for 3 runs a week building up to 30 mins. This week will be 15 mins, 20 the week after etc. I think that 30 mins will be good to aim for - after that I imagine that getting up to an hour will be will power rather than nurturing my feet and calfs. Calves.

Shhhhhhh...

... don't tell anyone but I went for a run this morning.

I know, I know: get me.

Well I consider it a 'run' but it consisted of less than a mile.
But it was OK.

Foot news: it's weird having to concentrate quite so hard on running properly but I think I got away with it. My foot does ache a little but in a different place - up near the ankle area - perhaps it's just the bone rejigging itself within my foot and it may take a while to settle. I will have to ask on Monday when I see the physio again

So, I shall await tomorrow with interest to see how hurty my calfs and achilles are but so far, so good.

Hurrah!

8 weeks

2 months since it was broken.

Most of the pain has gone but it's still not right: it feels like my bone is too stiff. I know they're supposed to be stiff. It just feels too long or something and it's in the wrong place.
Whatever, it's a bit hurty when I walk.

I go back to the physio next Monday and hopefully he'll put me back on track. You see what I did there. I'll get my coat.

Thing is, running's gone from my mind. I no longer think about it other than as a panacea to all the fat issues I have. There are other reasons for having fat issues but they're too complex to go into here. Suffice it to say, I'm relying on running to drop me a couple of dress sizes. 1 would be enough. And if I go hell for leather, there is a danger that I will end up doing myself another injury.
So I don't do anything, just to be on the safe side...

Broken

I went back to the GP last Friday as my foot was still giving me grief: right back at the start of all this the A&E doctor had told me to go back to my GP if it wasn't better in 3 weeks. That was nearly 5 weeks before.
So I had a second x-ray which showed it was indeed a stress fracture.

Which has reassured me in several ways:
1. it explains why it was so painful for so long (but not how something too tiny to show up on the first x-ray could cause so much pain for so long...)
2. it means there is a more predictable prognosis (I think) as in it'll take 6 weeks to feel much better (that's be Monday, can't wait) and probably 6-8 before running again
3. it is healing very well

It's still a bit swollen and isn't terribly comfortable when I walk (unless I wear the trainery shoes with insoles - how elegant...) but now I can visualise what's going on in there it makes sense and it is healing OK so it's not the end of the world.

Now I have to summon up the patience to return to running gradually, and the determination not to just give up and sit on the sofa for the rest of my life...

Perhaps, as motivation, I should promise myself some (more) lovely running kit!!!

:D

never has a blog been more aptly titled...

I am going to suffer when I get back running: I will want to just get out there straight back into the 5-miler runs.
But it won't be like that.
For a start I will be very unfit as I've done nothing to keep up my fitness. I had considered rowing machines, cross-trainers that sort of thing, but just haven't got any further than thinking about it.
And I know I will be very hesitant and won't want to risk this all happening again - perhaps that's wise. Perhaps I need to be cautious and take it very easy in getting back into it.
Perhaps I need to join a club for *shudders* beginners...
Perhsp perhaps perhaps.

Truth is I'm heading into the unknown: I have never been injured like this before. Twisted ankles seem logical and it's easy to know in your mind when it's ok to run again.
This is something else: because it wasn't an injury like going over on your ankle or falling and hurting your knee, there is the worry that I'm just going to end up in exactly the same place as I have been for the past month.
And it's one place I never want to come back to.

Getting better

I truly feel my foot is getting better.
But it's not there yet.
And I'm dreading how it's going to be when I start running again - will I be able to build up slowly (like about 5 mins at a time)? Will I be so fearful of it happening again I kind of make it happen again? Or perhaps it will be fine and I will just get on and become one of these heroically aged runners you see doing middling well in the road races...

recovery

If it is a stress fracture, it'll be 4 - 6 weeks before I can even think about running.

The latest thought was it might be something to do with ligaments or tendons. It's definitely not the joint, it's defintitely my middle toe. I guess it's nice to narrow it down

But I'm still hacked off about it. Yesterday I walked less than 1/4 mile and I was in pain every step of the way, and quite knackered with having to compensate for limping so much. It's made me feel pathetic and useless and I don't like that one bit.

But there is a definite improvement. One good thing to come of the terrible weather is that I can wear my winter boots which are supportive and probably help my foot quite a lot.

So I'm happy that it's improving, quite frustrated that it's taking (in my mind) so long and very concerned about when I do start running again, what's going to stop it happening again? I think I'm clued up as to how to avoid it, but it went so suddenly last time I don't believe I will never be 100% confident...

First physio session

I think it's getting better. It's a lot less hurty apart from first thing in the morning when I believe it's utterly shot and I will never walk again. But then I get over it and generally it only hurts if I walk too far on it or plain old forget and try to bound upstairs or something foolish.
The anticipation of pain is stopping me from using it normally, which makes everythng else tight and achy. Not helping.
I've had my physio session and have been straightened out quite a bit, so hopefully my feet will hit the ground flat in future rather than all curled up to one side (squashing the bones, causing the problem: see, it all adds up)  and I have a strapping on my foot to help my big toe joint hit the floor alongside the other toes, not 1/2 an hour later as it has been.
So, all in all, I'm feeling quite positive: when I will be running again I really don't know. I guess once I can walk without pain, I can build up to running on the spot etc. Oh, can't wait...

Alternative diagnosis

It could be 'metatarsalgia' Pain in the metatarsals. Descriptive enough to be plausible.
It explains why my foot doesn't ache a lot of the time, but not why it should come on so suddenly.
Then I think to myself that there have been times, mornings especially, when my foot's been really painful. So perhaps it's the 'algia...
Whatevers - it's getting a bit better now although walking is a pain, and I'd hoped to walk a bit this weekend. Might just have to put feet up and laze around instead.
I've booked in with the Physiotherapist at Moti cos he promised me he could mend me and get me back 'barefoot' running. So he is my new best friend.

Fractious and stressed

It's a stress fracture. Not the best news in the world frankly, but I will just have to live with it.
It hurts, but not excessively (unless I try running of course)
I have anti-inflammatories and painkillers which should do the trick of calming it down and all I have to do is wait for the healing process.
I am amazed at the way our bodies heal themselves - Ok there is a little bit of scar tissue here and there but if we never healed we'd all be dead by the age of about 3.
I just wish it was a little bit quicker. Like instant. Instant's good for me.

What have I done...

I will find out when I get to casualty I suppose.

What happened was, I went for a run on the downs yesterday, in the merrell shoes, and was going very well. It's a lot harder running off-road in those things but I honestly thought it would be good for building core strength, foot strength, everything really.
And for a while I guess it was working fine.

But, after about 1/2 an hour I felt a sharp pain in my left foot. A bit like cramp, so stretching the thing out should have done the trick, right?
But it didn't. And it's no better 24 hours later.

I have a feeling it's a stress fracture: it all adds up. (well google can make you believe anything can't it)

So this morning I"m off to A and E to see what's what. It does hurt although I can bend my toes. Stairs are a challenge.

And the ramifications? Well, if it is a stress fracture, then it's 6-8 weeks off the running. Not a problem in the depths of winter, but now???  I will have to replace it with something else - the upstairs at the gym has aerobic machines - rowers, stair climbers and the like, so I guess I will have to take up statics again. Work? Fuck knows. 'Scuse me, but it couldn't really come at a worse time.

Hacked off.

Still here...

...just not out running

It's only a matter of time.

My current excuse is the heat - spring has finnaly sprung and it's jolly warm out there

Felt like I was missing out on the Bristol 10k last Sunday but I don't think I would have been able to do it.

I really need to get back into this running thing to counteract the middle-age spread threatening to overwhelm me...

36 hours...

...is how long it takes for muscles to really kick in with their aching after a session.

I went for a run on Tuesday evening (in the Merrells, so I was asking for trouble...) and this morning my calves were stiff and aching.

But my achilles were - are - fine.

Does this mean I've made the swap? I can't run heel-striking any more, it feels too wrong (although going downhill is still an issue - I feel like I'm running like a fairy, taking dainty tippy-toe steps...)
So perhaps it's time to start upping the distance and duration until I'm regularly doing 5 miles. And then even thinking about a 1/2 marathon.

Argh!

It's like this...

It being Sunday I did drag my carcass round the downs - I actually cycled up there which is quite environmentally friendly of me, (the alternative being driving rather than running...)

It took 34' 37" and it was the vanilla version, no extra loops or anything...

So I'm glad I've been and I feel better for having done it - but it's not easy anymore. Not that it ever truly was, but I'm struggling to keep going for 1/2 an hour these days. Of course I know what the answer is to that, and I know I will have to force myself out more - especially as I'm being lured by the thought of another 1/2 marathon later this year and that will take over 2 hours...  *shudders*

Distance - about the same as last week - 6km 3.77 miles.
which is I think 9 mins 10" per miles. That. Cannot. Be. Right.
34'37  is 2077 seconds
2077/3.77 is 551 secs/mile
or 9 mins and 10 secs give or take.
I surprise myself at times...

(If that's true - I may be terribly terribly wrong there but if I'm right then I am chuffed into little minty pieces and it explains why I was so knackered... )
(Something tells me I've got a sum wrong and it's miles out...)

I know people who are doing the 10k next weekend - and that makes me sad and angry at myself for having let myself slip so deeply into a pit of gluttony and sloth. And there are several far more appealing deadly sins than gluttony and sloth. 

Ooh the effort...

34 mins and 3.37miles which is more than 10 mins a mile. There was a large hill involved as I was going round the downs. I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed. I'm never going to relive the giddy heights of doing the Bristol 10k in under an hour... 
Not unhappy with the fact I've been for a run. Slightly miffed about the knackeredness I'm now feeling. That was made considerably worse by spending 2 1/2 hours this afternoon digging the garden, but hey ho...
I did a yoga session yesterday which might account for the ache in my left hip. I hope that was the reason for it...
And now I feel like I need a long lie down.
Before running another twice this week of course. And 3 times a week for the forseeable...
 

How long????

I haven't set foot on the long road to running for an awfully long time now.
And the longer I leave it the worse it gets.
But I know the worst part is the getting going: put on the shoes, plug in the ipod and open the front door - after that it's easy
(If I can convince myself that's true I might stand a chance of going for a run at some point in the near future...)

Justified

After yesterday's enormous effort in running for 31 mins, I actually feel ok today. Legs not hurting, achilles quite benign.
Perhaps I can run further, longer etc etc and perhaps - just perhaps - I will get to use my smashing Merrell minimalist running shoes for something other than cycling to work in...

Oh, I must get a loose top to disguise the wobbly bits. More shopping-related incentives to run more!

puff pant wheeze

3.27 miles
30mins 58 secs
9.48 mins per mile which is about 9 mins 30 a mile - not too bad considering:
1. I'm still doing funny running
2. I haven't really run any distance for about 6 months
so really, I'm not too downhearted, except that I was so knackered and I felt like I'd eaten a huge sandwich just before setting off, but the fact is I hadn't.
I think I'm just very very very unfit compared with how I was running before
Also - I whacked my kneecap over the weekend and it is now excrutiating to go upstairs - I'm hoping it's only to do with the kneecap-whacking rather than any lingering problem with running

So - after a mere 2 and a bit weeks, I've done a run. Hurrah!!!

hot and sweaty

It's been very warm these last few days - for the end of March it's been positively balmy. So going for a run was only going to be a good idea in the early hours.
Like 9am...

I did nearly 35 mins this morning and it was hard work - hence the title of this post. And my right achilles is aching which is a bit of a worry, but I think it's a grumble rather than an injury, so I'm going to rest it until Sunday or possibly Tuesday

(this is horrible - I have drops of sweat running down my face and they're as irritating as te cat's whiskers when she gets too close...)

3 things I have learned from this morning's run:
1. my feet are bicycle wheels - they're only in contact with the ground at the very bottom, directly underneath - so the movement is to push back from that point and that brings my knees up like they're supposed to be.
2. my right leg is wrong: it's doing the old thing of trying to reach out in front of me with and that's what's causing the problem, I think. When I'm concentrating I can make it do it properly, and it makes it ache a bit which suggests I had been doing it wrong - perhaps I need to go back to the osteopath and get balanced out again. Or just do all those stretches I'm supposed to do...
3. Don't eat before a run. I had 2 veggie sausages and 2 poached eggs about an hour before I went out and it was too much too soon: about 15 mins in I could feel this food just sitting in my stomach waiting to be digested and being disappointed.

So I have an idea - this Tuesday I'm going to the dentist at 930 - so I'll go for a run first - I can get out of the house about 7am for 30 mins and be back in time for a shower and breakkie and then walk to work via the dentist. And I can do this twice a week - Tues and Thurs and walk to work those days cos I can leave later than when I'm cycling and stopping off at the gym. And I will run before I've had anything to eat.

And by the end of the week I will have lost 10lbs and will be a happy bunny.

Yay 
   

Run like the wind

Or a gentle breeze at any rate...

So I did another 1/2 an hour this morning - and I know it was that long cos I used the nike+ thing. It's far from being calibrated properly (8min 15 per mile - hello???) but at least it gives me a countdown for 30mins.

But I don't like running and waiting for the mins to be counted down - I am going to use the treadmill at the gym tomorrow and get it right. I do fairy steps now obviously.

But the run was ok. And I am going to keep it up and try to move up to an hour at a time and hopefully get the 10km feeling I used to have. If I can get there I think I should be able to lose weight and keep it off. And not knacker my knees along the way...

sometimes I surprise myself

Not often, it's true.

But I did run today - about 1/2 an hour - and it was OK. My right heel/calf is aching a bit but in an ok way, not feeling like it's about to pop.

And I am so unfit - there were a few hills in there and I was struggling. A lot.

Going between the toe-strike and heel-strike seems to be OK - I know the going downhill thing will be tough to get working once I'm converted. I had a thought that I might perhaps use the treadmill at the gym to get me going in the barefoot shoes - start with 5 mins perhaps and build up from there.

More time to spend trying to stop the march of time...

And I was trying to make sure I didn't run too long (or, more accurately, too short) a time and had to keep looking at the clock on my ipod. Of course once I got back I discovered there was a stopwatch and a time in the thing. Should have known that really.

28 minutes!!!

I possibly went about 3 miles - very slowly.

And I was in my old running shoes so I could change from one running style to the other - which was great on the downhill bits as I could land on my heels and not feel too slippery underfoot.

But it was bloody hard work.

I think I've lost fitness - running fitness at least - from not running. (Kind of obvious...) and 1/2 an hour was a killer.

But I think it was the right thing to do. I need to get running fit again and I know I'm barefoot running for about 1/2 the time - although the shorter extension for my calfs in those shoes is protecting my achilles, if not really improving my technique. I guess the thing to do is to put in the occasional 5-minutes on the merrell shoes every week or so and build up on that.

I called in at Moti in Bristol and they basically told me what I already knew but didn't want to face up to - that it's going to take a long time to get back to where I was before, running 10k on a Sunday morning.

But I will get there as the alternative is descending into fat-lassedness. Well, fatter-lassedness anyway...

Feeling braver

Well, the acute pain seems to have gone but I;m very nervous about going for a run. Even in the old, padded shoes.
But if I don't go, it will take longer and longer to get back into the running and any half-baked plans I might have for 10k runs this year will just wither and die...
So, the plan is... there is no plan actually, but one day very soon I will haul myself out there and see how I get on.
I really really hope I can turn into a barefoot runner, wearing my nice, minimalist shoes, loping gracefully round the roads of Bristol... (that last bit - probably a bit too much to hope for...)

Still hurts

It's not good. The only cure is rest. I did the calf exercise at the gym this morning and it made my achilles hurt so I stopped it.
So what happens next? I'm going to pop into Moti to see if they have any advice - I haven't run since last time cos that seemed to be a bad idea. But I don't want to stop altogether and I don't want to go back to the old style. Perhaps that's not the worst thing that can happen.
Bit down, in truth. It's a kind of wake-up thing telling me I'm getting old and it'll take a long time to heal and then a long time again to get back to the level I was at before. (which wasn't very impressive frankly...)

Poxy new running shoes

OK it's not the fault of the shoes but I am hurting in the achilles dept and it's cos of the shoes. I think the only way to progress here is to run in my old shoes (but barefoot stylee) and hope to build up some sort of stamina like that.
I've heard it can take 6 months to get as runny as you were in old shoes doing this - and I'm beginning to believe it. I'd thought initially that it was the calf muscles that were the deciding factor, but I guess it's more about Achilles - it certainly is for me.
It's very annoying cos I know this is the better way to run, and I've spent a shed load of money getting the right shoes for the job. It feels harsh to think that I'm still gong to have to go through all this pain when I was hoping for a fast change.
So, at some point this week I will drag out my newish old shoes and go for a longer barefoot run in them. Seems a bit arse about face but there you go...

running backwards

Well, not exactly running backwards, just a feeling of going backwards...

My right achilles seems to be aching and I think it's a good idea not to run until it's better. But I don't know how that's going to take.
I ran on Sunday morning (not very far but a bit faster cos I was running late) (Running late... I'll get my coat) and it's now Tuesday morning. Admittedly it is easing quite a bit and I guess I'm just making excuses not to run.

Which is a bad state of mind really.

Is it getting easier?

Well, I'm going a little bit further every time (up to about 20 mins now - woohoo) - but what I've found is I prefer running uphill - not sure why. I expect there is some mechanical reason for it.
And my feet ache  - they're quite painful first thing in the morning, but they do calm down a bit. Perhaps I tie my laces too tight and should allow my footsies to move around a bit more...
The other thing is niggly knees - they're quite hurty going upstairs but once they've been warmed up a bit they're fine...
And I must - must - keep up with the back stretches as my back is getting achy again

These are the ramblings of an ageing person who is in denial, no???

slowly

Well, I've run every day apart from yesterday and Thursday this week.
Is it getting any easier? Hard to say really. No harder, certainly.
There's still a lot of stress going on on my feet, especially the right one (I am generally wonky) which I guess will work its way out eventually.
But I'm still finding it really tough - much harder than I would have hoped. I think I'm not terribly fit at the moment but this is taking the mick.
So the plan is to keep on going for it and I guess eventually I will be back up to my old distance, if not the speed, and hopefully without the various knee and hip niggles which were troubling me before.
Fingers crossed.

run#1

New shoes, new running style - what could possibly go wrong?

Well, nothing really. I went for 1.1 miles or so to get used to the new shoes and it was OK. Until about 0.1 miles in and it became clear that these shoes weren't going to make this easy.
The old shoes really support your feet - these don't. There is a lot of effort to come out of your feet with these, which makes your feet very tired very quickly. I could feel the ache starting in the back of my calves as well, so after this miniscule run I was quite glad to be stopping.

But I know I will have to keep it up to get over this teething problem.

I know of other people who're switching over - people who are far fitter than I am - and they are also finding it a bit painful. It's a matter of perseverance I think, and not going too far too fast.
I think I can manage that side of it - it's the keeping going for weeks on end which will be the struggle...

New Era

Have taken the plunge and gone for some merrell barefooty sort of running shoes.
So much for this being the cheap option, however...
Anyway - they put me on the treadmill and they felt amazing. In fact it makes you wonder how much the big shoe companies are playing down such things as they want to continue making a fortune from the anti-pronation, complex supporting shoes they've been flogging us for the past generation.
I hope I'm going to use them...
The chap in the shop said it can takes ages to get used to the style, but my treadmill work looked good, like it was coming naturally (that's how it feels) but I know I have to build it up slowly. In truth I'm so out of shape at the mo it'll probably work better for me to build up to the hour-long run over the next couple of months and then perhaps the calfs won't be quite so whingy...

ow

my calfs hurt

At long last

Well, I have been for a run - bully for me, eh!
I went almost the whole of the long route, but it was about an hour or so, bit longer maybe. And I ran very slowly. At the end, very, very slowly... 
Calf-news and they seemed ok. I stretched a bit before and after and although my legs got very tired the calf-things didn't feel like they were being murdered. I'm certain they'll hurt tomorrow but perhaps my fears of the pain are overwrought.
So I felt very pleased with myself when I got in and have fought the urge to replace all the calories I used on the run by stuffing myself.
And now I have to continue with this marvellous effort and repeat it 2 or 3 times a week for the rest of my life...

Oh dear...

Went for a deliberately short run this morning - about 1/2 an hour - but my calfs/calves are hurting. They started hurting right from the off, in truth, which is a bit of a worry.
and now, an hour or so later, they're aching.
I don't think it's my achilles as it's too high up, and deep in the muscles.
So what's to do???
I really don't want to stop running - and I don't think I could go back to the old way of running either.
So I have a modest plan to stretch my calfs (I'm going to stick with 'calfs' as 'calves' feels a bit bovine) everyday. Not sure how long this plan will continue, mind.
And the gym calf exercise, I guess, will have to be my friend. And I could do the bunnyhops as well.
How long is this going to take? I just don;t know - I guess I will have to run again next week and see how it feels and if it's getting better, continue with the modest plan and build up the running time?
hmm
Not a very happy bunny, tbh

A note of caution here...

...my calves/calfs have only just stopped hurting and it's Friday. It's really hard to walk when your calf muscles are screaming at you to sit down and never contemplate running ever again (very eloquent, my calf muscles)
And then at the gym the following day there was the seated calf exercise - well, that was just taking the mick frankly.
Anyway - although in many ways I did enjoy the run, I think I would be better off running less distance, more often. Perhaps starting this weekend...

And a happy new year to everyone

Well, yesterday I went for a run - hurrah, etc!
It started off OK but I was struggling to remember how to run the 'art of running' method. But I got it and it really does make it easier to run, if you don't go very fast.

I headed off round the normal 6 and a bit mile route but cut some corners - and it felt fine. Until about 4 miles or so and my left hip began aching. then it began hurting. And then aching and hurting at the same time. Not very pleasant. And I ran out of puff, taking minute steps (which is part of the running style but they were getting ridiculously short as the pain increased) I did have to walk for a short while but I got home ok.

And once I'd stopped it felt absoloutely fine

It's the IT band, I am convinced - the pain goes from my hip down the outside of my leg and ends up in my knee. So once it's had a day's rest I'm going to get on with stretching it. I seem to spend most of my days at work sat at a desk, so it's no wonder I'm seizing up. Perhaps this is the kick I need to sort myself out. After all the thought of getting old does worry me and keeping flexible (and fit, strong, slim) are important ways of fighting it. But running is also a classic way of injuring yourself so you can't do any exercise...