All over for another year

Had a great Christmas day. Really couldn't have been any better.

Had a fab run with Phil. We did an hour on the hills above Comrie. Ran past a stunning frozen waterfall. All the tracks were fine to run on despite snow and ice and -8deg temp. Views stunning and great company.

Then back home for lovely brunch and pressie opening. We skyped some rels which I find amazing and headed over to Crieff to have dinner with E, Phil and boys where we stayed o/night.

We had a lovely dinner and evening.

A perfect Christmas!

Freezing

The last 4/52 or so has been blooming cold.
Running wise I have been doing something 2-3x/week with steady progress.
Last night I did 6m on the treadmill which is as much as I could stand I think. I felt fine and got down to 6.40 pace which was pleasing.
Last Sat we had out mincepie run which was 5.4m over the frozen wastes of Aberuchill. We had 20 Harriers which was great.
There's no sign of a thaw so running will be limited over Christmas but as long as I improve I am happy.
It was -13deg at 10am today which seems ridiculous

Treadmill

The green shoots have been covered by snow for the last 10/7. However I have managed a couple of efforts on the treadmill in the local rec.
On Sat I did 3.75m followed by 4.5m on Monday.
I am keeping it to alternate days for now. Trying to be sensible!
The aim is the mince pie run a week on Saturday.

Green shoots???

So, its been 11 weeks since a proper run outside now and over 4 weeks since the last new injury

Everything seems to be working now so I started running v v gently on the treadmill at the gym in Crieff

I've done 3 efforts and the last one totalled a big 2.5m.

Well its a start.

I've no aspirations now except to get back running outside and to enjoy it again. Asking too much???

Lots of exercise but no running

Over the last 5 weeks or so I have been swimming 3-4x/week, going to the gym 1-2x/week, cycling on the stationary bike 2x/week and doing a bit of yoga.
I feel my overall fitness is pretty good and the injuries feel fine however I have been advised to give it another 4 weeks before running. Seems a bit excessive so I might slowly start running on the treadmill in 2 weeks time.
Hopefully a rest from running will prove to have been a good thing in the long run and all this crosstraining should help especially if I can keep some of it going once I get back running.
For the record I can now swim 800m reasonably comfortably although there is a massive potential improvement if I can cut out the gasping at the end of each length.

Still not runnning

I was making some decent progress until last Sunday when I reinjured my calf. I had got up to 15min on the treadmill a few days before that but after 12 min my calf suddenly went again.
A friend reckons a calf needs 6 weeks to properly heal and be strong enough to run on again.
I clearly need to give it quite a long rest.
In the meantime I am swimming 3x/week and going to the gym.
Its all incredibly frustrating but there dont seeem to be any shortcuts.

1 month on

My last real run was the SWCHR 1 month ago. Since then I've struggled with an achilles tendonitis and when I did a 1.5mile run 2 weeks ago I strained my calf!!
I am feeling pretty good however. I have started swimming and even done some cycling and joined a gym. I feel alot less stiff and sore than I usually do and can now get out of the chair without hobbling the 1st few steps.
Swimming is v v difficult for me but does fit in well with work. I felt like the new boy in Perth when I got in the fast lane. I was ejected for being slow and swimming on the wrong side.
So what about running? I will do v short runs on the treadmill for a while until I am convinced everything is OK. It really is almost like starting all over again.
I need to cross train when I start running and cut down on the number of races I am doing.
This year really has been a running disaster but hopefully I can lay the foundations for a better year in 2011. If not there is always golf.