Training for week commencing 17/04/2005

I missed footy this week just to make sure the injury healed properly, and then on the last day of the training week, I got a 6.2km run in. I took it easy just in case it wasn't properly healed (though it did feel OK). Anyway, this ment that after weeks of being stalled just below the 100km mark, I finally passed it!!!! The time was quite a bit slower, so it'll be interesting to see how long it takes me to get back to my old standard.

6.2km
23/04 - 28:41

So the total distance now run in training is up to 103.2km. Thats and equivalent distance of Stockport to Harrogate.

Andy

Training for week commencing 10/04/2005

Continuing the downward spiral, this weeks training was worse than last weeks. Now you may be saying "you only managed one run last week, how could it be worse?", easy, I didn't manage any! My calf injury continued to thwart all exercise activities. There is no real pain as such, but it just does not feel "right". After a friend of mine caused a serious injury to himself after training on a slightly injured leg, I've had to fight hard to resist the urge to do exercise. I wasn't expecting to find it this hard to stop myself doing exercise, but the main thought going through my mind now is how far I'll have slipped back...

I naively thought after I'd injured it that it would just be sore for a few days then be OK. After a week had gone by and it still wasn't 100% I decided to do a bit of research. I'm glad I did. I found a web site about pulled calf muscles which was really interesting. In brief there are three severities:

• a first degree strain is damage to a few muscle fibres
• a second degree strain is damage to a more extensive number of muscle fibres
• a third degree strain is a complete rupture of the muscle itself.

It turns out that mine is a first degree sprain, which from a macho perspective is a bit disappointing! However, 3 weeks rest is recommended even for damage to a few muscle fibres! Oh well, this Thursday will be 2 weeks so I'll see how I feel.

Andy

Training for week commencing 03/04/2005

This week went even worse than last week! A busy work and social life combined to make me miss the mid-week run. This proved distastorus, as I picked up an injury in Thursdays footy match. A sprained calf which I thought was only minor... but it was still with me on Saturday meaning I only got 1 run in during the whole week. However, it was a great run...

6.2km
03/04 - 27:13 - New personal best!

This meant that I failed to break the 100km barrier this week, so close yet so far I guess as the actual total was 97km!

Other running related news was that I got my final confirmation that I am now in the Great North Run. I've set up a fundraising page now @ www.justgiving.com/andyshirres. I've got to raise a minimum of £300 but am hoping to raise a bit more, we'll see how I get on.

Andy

Training for week commencing 27/03/2005

After last weeks fitness binge, I had to tone it down this week. Sunday and Monday I took off to make sure my body recovered fully, though I did get a game of footy in on the Monday! Tuesday's run got canned as we had a meeting of the "Bramhall Rangers On Tour - World Cup 06" committee. We now have our applications in with the 4 million other applications... I'm not getting my hopes up! Wednesday was the England Vs Azerbaijan football match so again no Training run. Thursday was the Manchester Album launch for a local band from my time at Uni called Scout. They're a good band and if you get the chance I'd recommend seeing them. Friday was Justin's birthday so again no chance for a run. This meant that I was left having done no training runs with just one day left of the training week! So I thought I'd better step it up a little, and did another 10km run

10km
02/04 - 53:09
Not the greatest time, but I was being a little bit cautious here with it being the first time I'd run this local route. For those of you interested in where the halfway point is, it's the end of a lay-by after Norbury farm, the house number 60 is opposite. Still, it was good to get another 10km run in. However it was a good learning experiance as I learnt my third lesson on running... Lesson 3: Don't tie you trainers on to tight otherwise your feet will feel like they are about to explode halfway round!

This brings the total culminative distance I have run in training so far up to 90.8km.