Don't get me wrong, if I had kept heel striking I'd be in a bigger mess. Changing my running style has also made me faster, I changed to a more mid foot/toe strike & I've got new PB's in both 5K (19:24) & 10K (41:21). Not only have I got faster I was feeling stronger, in my last post I was getting ready for the Grindleford Gallop, a 21 mile trail race over 3500ft of hills & fields with an Ultra feel to it. I ran this race in a conservative manor as I never wanted to get injured this close to VLM, the weather was not brilliant so the views were not to be seen but it was lots of fun, 3 climbs, lots of mud & a really fun down hill made it a really entertaining race, mix into that a healthy dollop of good Twitter friends & you get a very good day. The torrential rain & snow held off & my legs played ball, I felt strong right up to mile 16 then when we were crossing the Chatsworth estate I pulled up with cramp in my thighs & calf's. I reverted to walking for a bit & once I walked it off I started running again, sadly I had to revert back to heel striking as my new style was causing the cramp & this felt odd, it felt clumsy & hard work. The last climb was a killer, I walked the most of it drinking a cup of tea I picked up from the last control point, (see I told you it had a great Ultra feel to it) I was cold to the bone on that climb but the tea helped & so did your support. Those of you that follow me on Twitter will know that when running long races like this I have my phone read out all your tweets. A couple of you took massive advantage of this & quite literally had me laughing out loud at your tweets of support. The last down hill was a tad technical on tired legs, so I turned the tweets off as I needed to concentrate, I ran the top with @Rustyw5, who by this point had ran the furthest he has ever ran & was not thanking me for it at all. It was a hard end to the race but LOTS OF FUN, even if it felt like a lottery on whether or not my legs would cramp up again leaving me in a messy heap rolling down the trail.
I'm the ninja on the left, @Dunsrunner is on my right. Photo courtesy of @Mikew30 & his backwards running |
PB celebrations |
I now need to take the positives out of this, I've coming up to the end of my 2nd year of being a runner & I've already ran a 50mile Ultra, I've ran around Great Britain, raised lots of money for charity, I'm about to run in the London Marathon & I've already PB'ed my 5K, 10K & HM times this year & its only March. Those of you that read my blog often will know I'm constantly telling you this, I'm not boasting, I'm writing it to tell myself. I put far too much pressure on myself but when I write on this blog it takes me away from that, I tend to look back in 3rd person mode, I then can put everything into perspective. At the end of the day I put my body though a lot, then I decided to teach it how to run differently, again while doing too much, running too hard, running too fast, all too soon. For now I'll forget about the training plan I have on my fridge & maybe start up a Runstreak, my friends on twitter have been great at supporting & giving advice, one thing I have noticed is that the ones doing Runstreaks tend to avoid injury more. I may not stick to this Runstreak as I do like cycling & have promised myself to start swimming, but the moral of this is to cross train more & listen to my body. I have had some great advice from @Mineamie who has also battled with the same problems when she changed her bike for a pair of running shoes. She called it her KitKat Leg, I've been calling mine something a little *#%£@ stronger as it has been making me very angry but maybe I need to stop being angry & look more positive again. Taking you back to the title of this post:;
*#%£@ : Insert own swear word then think positive
Maybe I should change it to "Insert your own positive thoughts", I'm confident I can drag myself around the busy streets of the London Marathon, after all I'll be running suited & booted as my Super Hero alter ego MEGA MARTIN & running it for the kids at Rainbow Trust. As for the TR24? Well that's a different kettle of fish, I do need time on my feet in training but I once read that running 100 miles is 10% physical & 90% mental so I should be ok.... ;o)
Thanks again for ready my blog, I don't pretend to be a writer, I just throw down whats in my head & then click Spell Check (if I remember), at the end of the day this blog is more like a diary & can get a tad messy, sooooo THANK YOU!!! If you are feeling generous PLEASE click on the link for Rainbow Trust & donate a pound or two towards the poor kids I'm doing this for. You guys have already donated over £600 so please keep up the great work in spreading the word, spreading the love & showing the support.
YOU GUYS ROCK!
Another fab post, Martin! Definitely a great idea to look back at the year - can't belive how much you've done in your first 2 years of running!! WOW!! Also new PBs already and only March! It's frustrating having injuries, but as soon as your legs adapt to forefoot you'll be unstoppable!!
ReplyDeleteAwwww thank you for your kind words,they are really appreciated. It's been very frustrating knowing I spent my 1st year of running being reckless & running silly miles without injury but as soon as I calm down & start following a training plan I pick up niggles. Fingers crossed you are right, I love running LOTS.
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