I've had better days.....

The shins still aren't behaving themselves, so I again elected not to run today, with the head winning the battle of logic and over ruling my heart's desire to run. I intend to be fairly patient this week and ease into the treadmill running when my shins have come good again.

Not much else went right today, my brother Benno's Mazda 323 which I'm driving whilst he is overseas overheated this afternoon whilst MJ and I were returning from a BBQ. Fortunately, I was able to get it going again after checking the vitals and topping up the cooling system. Relax Benno - everything is under control. And to cap of the day, the Bullets slumped to 4-7 with yet another loss. Yeah, I've had better days.

Enforced rest day

I woke up with discomfort in the shins and after a few hours of intermittent discomfort, I canned today's scheduled 50 min recovery run. It was clearly the right thing to do and evidenced by the massage I received at noon. Bruno was not happy with what he felt and gave me a good bashing and for the first time in a while tattooed his calling card of four suction cup marks on my glutes. Even though I ran well short of my top speed at speedwork on Tuesday and Thursday, I can't have allowed enough recovery time after my two races in 36 hours last week.

Had a long talk with Bruno about my impending experiment of switching to treadmill running and I've decided to start immediately with perhaps one to two runs on the tready next week, before steadily working my way up to more frequent tready running, pending the results.

Bribie Island Triathlon Photo - 2

Here's a shot of me close to a full sprint about ten metres short of the finish line. Check out my left leg. While the shot was not taken from a good angle for a gait analysis, I appear to be overstriding with the left leg which is about to hit the ground too far in front of my body and centre of gravity. It is this overstriding that is the primary cause of my shin splints, hence the need for me to do glute firing exercises and possibly add treadmill running to my regime.

Bribie Island Triathlon Photo

Here's a shot of me readying for a sharp right hand turn heading out of the transition area to commence my run leg for Northies on Sunday.

1k's at Speedwork

5 x 1km, 60 sec Standing Recovery - average 4:13 mins/km for 5 reps

There was still discomfort in my shins today so I stayed well away from my new top speed of 3:50 mins/km in recording efforts of 4:04, 4:08, 4:12, 4:21, 4:21.

500's at Speedwork

9 x 500's - avg 1:59 reps with 30 sec Standing Recoveries

After two races in 36 hours over the weekend, I still had a little delayed onset muscle soreness present when at training this morning - partially because I took short cuts with my stretching after both races for which I've given myself an uppercut. As a result, I ran the session this AM at no faster than 3:50 min/km pace for the first few reps before easing up. There is a little more shin discomfort than normal tonight but no major dramas.

Spent some time talking with Andy this AM at training - he is back from Reserves duty with the RAN in the Middle East and is a regular treadmill user when at sea. Like Bruno two weeks ago, he gave running on a treadmill the thumbs up for my shins. Over the next fortnight, I will seriously consider becoming at least a part time treadmill runner - perhaps a full time one for three to six months....

Bribie Island Triathlon 750/20/5 - Race 1

Team Northies kicked off the new season with a probable 2nd placing in the first Bribie Tri of the season. RooBoy unfortunately had a Barry Crocker. After sitting nicely in 4th half way through his swim leg, his goggles fogged up and he hit the wall when the flus of the last few months took their toll. Cyclist Matt overcame his own recent flus to put in a blistering 31:40 cycle for the 20 and send me out for my run in no better than 4th position, but well behind the leader. Again mindful of my shins, I ran a controlled 18:25 for the 5k's along the Bribie foreshore passing three other team runners along the way. We didn't stay for the presentation but think we finished 2nd and will find out the results in the Courier Mail in the morning. Fortunately, the shins have pulled up fine so far and I was quite pleased with my effort. Part of me wishes that I could have been just a minute behind the leader and ran him down in glorious fashion, but the shins would have likely paid the price. I'm confident however that Northies will take out the series by winning at least two of the next three races.

Full update here on Monday night.

Brisbane Running Group 3K Challenge

3k - 10:51 - 37th, 5k warmup, 2 k warmdown

Coach Pat's concept of a Brisbane Running Group challenge came to fruition tonight with a good turnout of 15o + runners turning up at the Ship Inn for the run out to the starting point at Riverside Drive, West End. With a 5k run leg in the Bribie Tri on Sunday I had to leave some petrol in the tank and not push the shins too hard so they would be able to back up in 36 hours. Also, I was conscious of my new plan to run fewer efforts at faster than 3:50 pace.

Oops, I got a bit carried away amongst the tide of humanity streaming down Riverside Drive as dusk embraced the city - a 3:32 first k was the result! That was followed by a 3:43 as I concentrated hard on a smooth and economical leg turnover whilst avoiding overstriding. I was really surprised that my cardio fitness was so good that I was able to maintain a controlled leg turnover whilst running a 3:34 last k and not losing my stride. Very happy with my fitness there - running an easy 10:51 with plenty of petrol in the tank at the end and after about 10 seconds my heart rate was almost back to normal. My brother Adam ran for the Run Inn after being persuaded by Schulzy to do so. He ran a hard race for 33th place in 10:20ish. Good to see some more speed in the family - but you won't be winning our $50 bet for the fastest 10k time between us, Mate!!

The Regatta runners triumphed taking out the inagurual trophy which surprised me as I thought the Pat Carrollers had the most depth. Never fear, with myself, Tesso, Clairie and Davo hopefully able to run at top speed next time coupled with absentees Jodie, Andy, Eckers and Aaron running for us, I'm confident we'll prevail next time!!

Another discomfort free run

Speedwork - 50 mins, 10 k's @ about 4:40-4:50 mins/km

Enjoyed a team bonding session without the booze with my Northies team mates RooBoy and Matt last night along with their partners Tanya and Jay. MJ was a no show, having to go to Melbourne at short notice. We took our time enjoying the appetisers before tucking into a main of flame grilled chicken prepared by Jay followed by Mars Bar cheesecake - I kid you not. I am now half way through my annual alcohol free month and it was tough to watch the others relax with a few beers! Only 13 days and 21 hours remain until I hop off the wagon at the Gabba for the first test match agaisnt the Windies!!

With the Brisbane Running Group 3K Challenge scheduled for tomorrow night, Pat primed his charges by just having a 50 min easy run down to New Farm Park. This included a stopover in the Botanic Gardens on the way back for some strides on the grass, which I skipped. The shins felt ok throughout the run and I just concentrated on a good stride and enjoyed the shower that we ran through. Once I get past the 3K Challenge on Friday Night and race 1 of the Bribie Tri 5k run leg on Sunday, I have only three triathlon leg to race in the next four months so will be concentrating on staying injury free and building up mileage. I will decide the intensity of my effort for the above races when I come to them but I certainly won't be going any faster than 3:40-3:50 k's on Friday and Sunday.

Now, onto domestic matters, I got my rates bill last night and for the first time, the council compared my water consumption with that of the local area average instead of my previous quarters consumption. I was shocked to find that despite only two people residing at SportsCentre right now, we had twice the quarterly consumption of the local area average. Now that additional consumption is far too much to be due to the extra water we use to top up the pool levels, so its time to fix that toilet leak which I previously assumed was only a minor one. I refuse to get a plumber in to fix it - we men after all are supposed to be capable of doing this ourselves. Right? Now, I've never done this before so I googled the relevant keywords and found a step by step process of Scott Cam fixing a leaking toilet on the Burke's Backyard website. That'll be the first thing I tackle after lunch - wish me luck!

Another day on the road to recovery...and an idea

2 mins, 30 sec JR, 1 min, 30 sec JR, 2 mins, SR, repeat, SR, 4 mins

I enjoyed a solid session at speedwork building on the momentum of Sunday’s relatively discomfort free Long Run. The intervals were done at around 4:00 min/km pace and I barely slowed down for the jogging recoveries. Pat today added a whiteboard to the rear of the A-Frame that advertises our group to passer-by’s at the Ship Inn. The purpose of the whiteboard is to make our goals public and to enable everyone to support their team mates in accomplishing those goals. Whilst most people have entered goals such as the Gold Coast Marathon next year, I entered “Beat Shin Splints”, and really, that’s my main focus.

As an aside, I have the next four days off work and among other things, will be using the time to research the possibility of starting up…….don’t laugh…… a child care business with a mate. Why not, the demand is still out there and many prospective child care operators are too daunted by the red tape and insurance costs to go ahead with it. Feel free to offer some suggestions on this concept. And, rest assured that were this business to go ahead, I will be far away from the hands on action at the coalface each day!!!

Running in the rain!

Sunday Long Run, 70 mins - 14k's @ 4:52 mins/km

After a great night cheering on the Bullets come from behind win over the Crocs, I headed out to the Criterium at 7:30am to meet up with Langy for a shorter than normal Sunday Long Run in light of my shin pain the last fortnight and Langy's recovery from his 83:30 Melbourne Half PB. We ran the entire 70 mins in steady rain that was just short of pouring rain. I love running in the rain, not only for the refeshing nature of the activity but because I know I'm getting an edge on some of my competitors who will chicken out of a run in these conditions! Even better, I experienced very little shin discomfort for the duration of the run. Interestingly enough, Bruno said after my rub on Friday that my hip alignment was "perfect - best its ever been". For all I know, this could have been a contributing factor.

MAJOR change of direction for my short term running future

I reached an unwanted milestone last week - ten months battling the dreaded shin splints. When I tell people how long that I've had shin splints, most assume that I'm overtraining but I can say in all honesty that I'm actually undertraining! I have only exceeded 50k's a week a handful of times in the last six months. That's not overtraining. There is little doubt that my shin splints are caused by my flawed gait and my overstriding and I continue to work hard to overcome those flaws. In fact, I've have just hit upon the idea that my walking gait could be contributing to my problem. Those who have struggled to keep up with me when walking will know that I walk extemely fast, and overstride considerably when doing so. I'll be investigating very shortly to see the extent if any, my walking gait is contributing to my probs.

Moving on, following discussions with all parties involved in my running career, I've decided upon the following changes:

- All speedwork will be run at no faster than 3:50 mins/km which is at least thirty seconds slower than my top speed. Possibly, I may not go faster than 4:00-4:10. In order to ensure that I still have a decent workout at speedwork, I will shorten my standing recoveries and run quicker jogging recoveries and top that off with a brisk warm down run. I may occasionally run at top speed for 8 x 500 and 5 x 1k sessions or a 3K Time Trial but these instances will be few and far between. I will do very little racing. My gait flaws are exacerbated by running fast, so hopefully, this move will speed up my recovery from shin splints.
- I will slowly increase my Sunday Long Runs back up to two hours and my Friday Recovery Run up to one hour. Shortly, I will resume my Wednesday Midweek Long Run starting at 20 minutes, increasing at five minutes per week and working my way up to 70-90 minutes.

In summary the above changes will see me reduce the intensity and speed of my running but compensate for that by bumping up the overall weekly mileage. I won't be getting too many PB's from my new plan but hopefully the reduced stress on my legs will assist my recovery from shin splints whilst the increased mileage will build up my endurance and strengthen me for when I'm ready to resume full on speedwork. I've spent the last three-four months following a plan of continuing to train hard at speedwork, but only running four times a week with at least 36 hours between runs to allow the shins extra recovery time. The plan sounded good in theory but unfortunately, has not worked.

Fingers crossed that these changes will help. If not I might have to try something out of the left field such as that suggested by Bruno when I got a rub this morning. He told me of an elite ironman triathlete who overcame shint splints by doing ALL of his running on a treadmill for six months, the theory being that running on the tready forces you to shorten your stride somewhat, thus overcoming gait flaws and the softer surface is also a little kinder on the shins. That would be as boring as hell, but I'll do it if I have to!!

40 mins this AM for 8k's at 4:52 mins/km

Another jog at speedwork

4 mins, 30 sec JR, 2 min, 30 sec SR, repeat, 4 mins, hill

The shins are not quite recovered from the bashing they received late last week so I just cruised through today's session at perhaps 4:30-4:40's. The shins pulled up ok.

Perhaps of more interest today was running injury - type # 793. As per Tuesday, I drove into speedwork with a heated medi gel pack taped to my left shin with electrical tape. Only problem was that I heated the pack for two minutes on high in the microwave intead of two minutes on medium. I didn't realise the error until after I had taped the gel pack on at a set of traffic lights and only started to feel the burning hot pain after traffic was moving again. I contemplated reaching down to rip the gel pack of my shin, but reasoned with myself "Aaaarghh, leave it - a little bit of pain will toughen you up and never really hurt anyone." So the first couple of minutes of my drive saw me shaking my leg leg in between depressing the clutch until the pain subsided. I thought nothing more of it until after the session ended and I noticed nasty red burn marks on my left shin!!! So before breakfast, a trip to the medicine cabinet for aloe vera was required!

A jog at speedwork

15 mins of 30 secs fast, 30 secs jogging recovery

After pulling up sore on Sunday there was doubt in my mind that I would be able to run this morning, let alone run at a decent pace. I told MJ last night that there was a 40% chance that I would not make it to speedwork at all, if the legs didn't feel right upon awakening. I was slow getting out of bed in the morning and for just a millisecond, contemplated sleeping in and giving the legs additional rest. However, I stuck to the plan of testing the legs with a short jog down the road. 400 metres later, the right shin felt good and the left just a little niggly and I pronounced myself fit to train. Soon after, I jumped into the car with a heated gel pack taped to my left shin with electrical tape to give it every opportunity to warm up before further running. This worked well and my left shin felt much better after arriving at South Bank and jogging to the Ship Inn. I will make this a regular feature of my pre training rituals.

Arriving late at the Story Bridge, I joined the rest of the group after having covered the three k's with little discomfort. Whilst the rest of the group alternated fast 30 sec efforts with jogging recoveries, I just did a one paced session of running for 15 minutes at five min per k pace with every one overtaking me whilst running fast and me overtaking them whilst they did JR's. I then wrapped up the morning continuing back to the Ship Inn with little discomfort.

Noosa campaign hits a pothole

Sunday Long Run 45 mins, 9kms @ 5:05 mins/km

Well, its official. My Noosa campaign has struck a pothole. A slowish run on Friday at much slower than my normal low 4:50 pace for these long and recovery runs was followed by an identically slowish run today. Both runs I had to endure worse than the usual shin discomfort with today's effort being torpedoed by the aforementioned shin discomfort half way through. When I got back to the car for a water stop half way through the planned 80 minute run, I was favouring a leg when standing to drink and called it quits on the spot. Running another forty minutes was not going to help me achieve my Noosa target so it was not worth the risk. To say I was filthy would be an understatement.

I've spent the day at work thinking hard about changes to my short term training strategy and all will be revealed tomorrow.

Friday Recovery Run

Friday Recovery Run 45 mins, 9 kms @ 5:02 mins/km

As part of my drive to top up my cardio fitness with Noosa looming fast, I started the day with a 70 min low intensity ride on the bike in hot conditions at 10am. Worked up a nice little sweat there.

At 4pm, I was working up a sweat again, this time enduring some shin discomfort to complete a 45 minute recovery run.

Solid speedwork session

6 x 2 minutes, 45 second Standing Recovery

My shins had made themselves felt in the preceeding 24 hours so it was with some trepidation that I ventured to the Ship Inn for speedwork this morning. Fortunately, the legs felt good in the three kilometre warm up to the Story Bridge and I was able to throw myself with vigour into the session. With Langy taking it easy in his final hitout prior to the Melbourne half and Slash a no show, I led from the front in most of the reps along with Gary M, Glenda and newcomer, Ben. The lack of hard aerobic exercise in the past fortnight started to take its toll by the time the fifth rep came around. I then reminded myself that Noosa was only a month away, dug deep and gave myself a massive flogging in the final rep, collapsing to the bitumen in exhaustion after a lung busting conclusion. The legs pulled up well and I was a satisfied man at the end of the session.

Nevertheless, I now plan to reduce the number of "stretcher sessions" that I have at speedwork until I have completely beaten the devil that is my shin splints into submission . Whilst its a great feeling to train yourself to exhaustion and my cardio vascular system can cope with it, I believe that my shins can't cope with it every time. Anyone who has ever tried to run fast when utterly exhausted will know the feeling of having a heavy stride with legs flaying about awkwardly. I believe when I push myself through exhaustion to continue running fast, the flaws that I have with my running technique exarcerbate the stress placed upon my shins. The trick now, is to learn to train hard at speedwork and reach the threshold of exhaustion, but not cross it and instead continue to run with a smooth and economical stride that places the least amount of stress on my shins. Only time will tell how successful this is.

Pat Carroll Running Group 3K Time Trial

Pat Carroll Running Group 3K TT

With just a week of running under my belt after the shin probs, I judged the risk of injury from a fast TT to be too high for my liking. Instead, I had to be content with joining Langy in running 3:55 k's as he put the finishing touches on his Melbourne Half Marathon preparation. To ensure that I had a good workout, Langy and I immediately continued running back up Riverside Drive after crossing the finish line and proceeded to help tow some of the later finishers home. Some great PB's out there from the likes of Allyson, Kate and Tara who's run will certainly have Tesso, Clairie, Jan and Tori looking over there shoulders!! Then whilst everyone else sucked in the big ones after thier hard efforts, Langy and I didn't take time to get our breaths and instead ran briskly back to the Ship Inn covering about 2k's at 4:15 mins/km pace. So in summary, my morning added up to about 5.5k's at a brisk pace with virtually no recovery. I was pretty happy with how the shins felt during the session and they only started make themselves felt when we were enjoying our recovery nibbles of nuts, frogs, snakes, watermelon and pineapple, washed down with PB and Up and Go. Gees, recovery nibbles after Pat's sessions are becoming a real smorgasboard!!

Life's good!!!

Sunday Long Run

Sunday Long Run - 70mins, 14k's @ 4:56 mins/km

Hit the Kedron Brook path with Langy at 7:30am this morning. Ideally, I'd be running around two hours for my Sunday Long Run at this stage of my preparation for Noosa, but the week off put paid to that. I'm working my way back gradually increasing it by 15 mins/3km's a week. Yes, its a little more than the golden rule of "do not increase weekly or long run mileage by more than 10% from week to week " but, surely this rule is negligible after just a week off? Anyway, in nice, warm conditions, Langy and I got through the run comfortably and Langy is looking in great shape for a fast half in Melbourne next Sunday!! My right shin protested just a little at various stages of the run, but pulled up pretty well.

An an aside, can you believe that we got our first rain in some months on Friday arvo, just as I had finished applying mortar to the rocks lining the garden beds in my front yard. Some of the mortar ended up going all runny and I'm going to have to reapply it in some areas next week. Here's one person who isn't all that happy at the timing of this little break in the drought!!

Go the Cowboys tonight!!!