As part of a new health and fitness campaign I had managed to run 1km, but had committed myself to completing a 5.9km fun run. At that stage I had 4 months to build up to that distance. I could only run laps of “the Rec” at that point, as I didn’t want to put undue strain on the old dodgy knees. I knew enough to know that I had to slowly extend myself to run extra distance each week. This was one of those cases of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous.
“The internet” told me the best way to build up your distance is interval training. ie. short distances at varying speeds. The first lap at a steady pace was no trouble. The next lap I increased my speed and within 100 mtrs I had strained a calf, hobbled through the rest of the lap, then had to pull up. No more training for two weeks
The next time I started training I took a softer more sensible approach, slowly building the distance while maintaining a steady pace. This approach proved more successful as I slowly increased the distance up to around 4 ks. All this time though my Achilles would be sore first thing but would be fine as I warmed up.
Eventually I was able to take my training to the road. Either running to the Rec, to complete the last couple of ks on the grass, or completing a circuit of the softer walking track around the lake in Terang.
There are those from neighbouring towns, that have more traditional lakes, that find it hard grasp the Terang lake. I see lakes in other towns that are used only for fishing and water sking and have a golf course clinging to the side of a hill. In addition to the 4.5 km walking track, the lake in Terang has the golf course in the prime position in its flat bed., our lake also hosts many other sports, cricket, bowls, croquet, tennis and pony club and ironically also has our swimming pool.
The fitness levels continued to increase to the point I would do 4 – 5 ks a couple of times a week. Unfortunately the pain in my Achilles was increasing at the same rate. I could work through the pain while I was running but would suffer for most of the day, hobbling around the office like an “old man”
A constant round of chiro, massage and physio was trying to keep me going, but the physio had told me the only way to stop the pain was to stop the running. Another two weeks off training
Two weeks of special exercises and strength training had made some improvement, but it was now 1 week before the fun run and I hadn’t run for two weeks and still couldn’t really walk straight. I had made a commitment 4 months earlier to complete the Noorat – Terang fun run for the first time, and despite all the advice I was still going to do it.
Down to series training this week. 14kms yesterday @ 5.29 per k. A bit windy today so made hard work of it. 24 ks for the week. Increasing the distance but still a fair way to go. Thank god for the treadmill. The weather has been pretty ordinary the past week or two, so I didn’t fancy heading out in the dark at zero degrees, or at night in wild and windy conditions.
Still working on the carb diet. I’m actually struggling to fit it all in, time wise and quantity wise, but I’m prepared to keep eating for the good of the cause. Back on the Powerade again today, but it still haven’t mastered the art of drinking while on the move.
My fitness gurus introduced me to energy gels this week. Red cordial in a packet. They wouldn’t let me use the happy gas during child birth, so this was the biggest brain buzz I’ve experienced. It was good stuff. After having a good shot of one of these gels I was feeling no pain for the next few ks, but the last couple of ks were still hard work. 9 weeks to go.
61 Days to go
Run Muzz Run 