Today is 10 days since the SMH half. The inflammation and localised pain on the edge of the tibia has settled down. That's the good news. The bad news is that I have pain in the bone just below the knee. There is no real pain when the bone is pressed, yet it hurts when I put weight on it. On the Gronk's Pain Scale (TM) where 0/10 is well zero pain and 10/10 is being eaten alive by a bear, I'd say that walking is a 4/10. Walking down a slope and traversing up and down stairs it increases to a 6/10 and I need to limp to compensate.


Not sure what to do now. Do I go straight to my GP and organise a x-ray ? Well from what I have read stress fractures are hard to pick up in conventional x-rays and bone scans are the go. Bone scans however sound pricey as do sports GPs and I am wary of spending a slab of the family's cash for the doc to tell me basically what I already know - 12 weeks of no weight bearing excercise and then start a return from injury program.

Decisions, decisions.

Wow, so many kind messages from Bloggers after the SMH. Thanks so much !


This Monday was a rest day. The usual post race massive DOMS haunted me all day, so the rest day flowed lazily into Tuesday. I blame Plu for that cos he TOLD me to rest. LOL. I have been stretching however and punishing the ITBs with the rolling pin as well. Each day I have been spinning, seeking some downward movement for Fat Friday. Wednesday was State of Origin (life has it's priorities) so my first run was planned for Thursday.


Leading up to Canberra I kept a little injury a secret. I jokingly blogged at one stage that I had a stress fracture, but I got over it. Well the truth is that I really did fear a break high up on the medial edge of the tibia. It presented a sharp pain with the foot strike yet the bone did not hurt when pressed. It went away as quickly as it arrived. So I didn't have to worry about it. If it did end up a break then I hoped to get through the marathon and worry about the injury later. Thankfully I got through the race and there were no signs of pain.



Yesterday morning I noticed the same pain rear its ugly head as I walked down the escalator at Bondi Junction Station. It's been in the back of my mind all week but I thought that it was residue DOMS so I didn't really worry too much. I laced on the boots last night for a run and got to the end of the street before I had to turned back for home. It really hurt and testing it afterwards I can't really hop on my left leg at all. I'm thinking that best case scenario it's a soft tissue injury similar to shin splints only higher up (coloured red in the pic). Worst case I guess would be a stressie. Being a glass half full sorta guy, I'm focusing on the shin splint type injury. As an old hand at the cursed shin splints (aka Medial tibial stress syndrome) I know that I have to ice twice daily, start a course of anit-inflams and change the shoes. When I'm right to run again (that could be as early as Sunday or as late as next month), I'll have to stick to the soft surfaces for a while. If it doesn't respond quickly, I'll have to pay a visit to Larry the Physio next week for advice.


Of late I've been feeling like an old footballer who can't train with the team because of his failing body. He has to do his own thing, keeping himself in cotton wool and just prepares himself for the big games. My next big game is the City to Surf and wild horses won't keep me away from it. In the meantime my short term goal is Striders next week. Fingers crossed.



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Fat Friday !


Weight last Friday: 80.3kgs


Weight today: 80.2kgs


Comment: 100gms Hahaha !

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I set out today to get through this race without any dramas, seeing that I've got this quad (or is it ITB?) thing at the moment. Mission accomplished I guess. I managed a 1:42:xx which is a few minutes slower than last year.


I met Blkbox & Beki at Bondi Junction Station at some ungodly hour and we made our way down to the start area and checked our bags. I then had the pleasure of meeting a whole bunch of new CoolRunners before the start. Great stuff.


I slinked my way up to the start and was soon under way. I got through the first 10km in 46:xx and was feeling pretty schmick. Popped a gel and was drinking sensibly. I guess it was at about the 12km mark that I hit the wall. I could not believe the amount of runners that passed me as we ran up Pitt & Hunter Streets for the second time and into the Domain. My paced slowed, my heart rate increased and I could really feel my quad and tightness into my hip.


So after that horror 5kms I was able to amble down the hill back down to the Quay and claw back some of that lost time. By the time I got to the top of Argyle Street at the 18km banner I was feeling almost human again. Don't know why. CR Rags came up from behind and I tried to hold on to him until the finish line as best I could. In the last 100m CR Johnny Dark appeared out of thin air and we all finished together in a sprint to the line.


I will spend this week trying to tenderize my ITB & quad with the rolling pin and will start next Saturday on a decent hilly LSD program. Gotta get some speed & endurance in the back end of my race if I'm going to conquer the C2S in August.

I've a had a few runs this week, a 10km on Tuesday and then a 5km last night. To be honest I'm carrying a quad strain, which I've been keeping under wraps (hence the lack of blogging). Sadly, it gave a me a heap of grief last night. Not sure where it came from but it's either over enthusiastic stretching or lack there of. Who the hell knows. All I know is that it hurts when I hit the ground and the pain is on the outside top of the thigh.


I've been massaging ever since and popping the magic pills, so I'm hoping that I will get around the 2 laps of the SMH without getting a puncture. One thing for sure is that I will give it a crack and won't die wondering etc. Yeah Gronk has an injury - what's new. LOL.



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Fat Friday !


Weight last Friday: 80.3kgs


Weight today: 80.3kgs


Comment: Doh !

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After a lovely Mother's Day breakie concocted by the kids, the Bride, Jackson, Maya and I headed into the city for a morning in the Domain. Jackson & I were doing the 4km Fun Run and the Bride & Maya the 4km walk.


After parking we went our separate ways and Jackson & I soon found ourselves at the start line with about 10 mins before the gun. It was then that I noticed that everyone was wearing timing chips except us. Oh well, we already had received our bibs in the post and I decided after a millisecond of deliberation that time was so unimportant for us in this race. In fact I wondered why the organisers even bothered to go to the effort. It was pretty clear that the participants around us were most definitely there for the "Fun" rather than a serious "Run". I guess that they had the system in place for the 8km earlier in the day, so it was easy to carry it through for the 4km.


Soon the gun was off and the mob moved forward towards Mrs Macquaries Chair for the first time. I could see that Jackson was a tad freeked by the masses so I moved him onto the footpath which gave him a clear run. We passed the CR Cheersquad (thanks guys) and soon after rounded Mrs Macks Chair. As expected, once we left the road and jumped on the pathway around the point, the congestion was chronic. This meant that we had to jog on the spot twice for about 25m until it thinned itself out.


The long hill from Farm Cove back up to the Art Gallery took it's toll on many of the runners and Jackson was no exception. Just before the Cahill Expressway overpass he announced that he wanted to walk. Not sure if I was being a bad Dad or not but I told him to tough it out and keep going. I told him that it was only 800m to the finish and that he would regret it if he walked a part of the race. To his credit he found another gear and pulled through to finish in fine style to receive his medal. It will be a talking point on Monday at show and tell I'm sure.

In a weekend which is chock-a-block with family stuff, I had to head out this morning before the birds managed their first morning squark.


A lap around the park on the soft stuff was on the menu to give the old legs a break. I ran at moderate pace and tried to pull hard up the hills because of the SMH next week


I have no real expectations about SMH but if I could get close to last year's time of around 100 minutes I'd be pretty happy. That's probably a long shot at this stage but I'll just go out hard and hope for the best.

I've been plagued all week with the flu which turned into a chesty cough as well. That kept me off the road all week which has been quite frustrating with the SMH just around the corner.

Last night I was feeling like I was on top of things and headed out around 9.00pm for a run into the city and back. The legs were feeling OK and so was the chest and I made it down to the Opera House and back in nippy time.


My legs this morning are feeling pretty trashed because of the hard paving which is much of the 14km run. I might run on the grass/trail on Saturday for an hour and a bit just to give them a break. On Sunday Jackson & I have the 4km Mothers Day Classic which is basically one lap of the Striders Domain course. I fear that it will be congestion plus on the narrow walking paths, but am very much looking forward to our first fun run together.
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Fat Friday !


Weight last Friday: 80.7kgs


Weight today: 80.3kgs


Comment: Oh well, a loss is a loss.

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I read with amazement that a few runners backed up after the Striders 10km on Saturday morning and ran the NSW 10km Road Champs in the afternoon. Or guys like Superflake and Nando who ran the NSW Champs on Saturday and then the Heart of the Lake on Sunday.


Meanwhile I'm hobbling about all weekend with massive DOMS in the quads and calves. I guess there are those of us who CAN and those of us who CANNOT. I of course am in the latter big girl category.


On Sunday morning Jackson & I had a lap around Centennial for his weekly training run (aka Dad's recovery session). This was Jackson's last hit out before the 4km Mother's Day Classic next weekend. We completed the 4km (loop of the park and run home) in slow but solid style, save the DOMS pains in my legs. It was good to get some blood in the muscles and I admit that I did feel much better after the run that I did before.

I arrived this morning at Manly bright and early, and after a warmup I said to CR Go Girl that I would stick with the 50 min pacer for the whole trip. So off we went. After a Km or so I felt pretty comfortable. So I moved ahead and spied the 45 min pacer in the distance and decided to real him in.


I managed to run up to the 45 min pacer after about 5 or 6kms and felt good enough to move ahead of him and figured that I would try and maintain a good pace until the finish.


I hit 9kms around 40:xx and fell apart in the last km to finish in 44:58. Very happy with that anyway considering I've done SFA training for the short stuff.


Today gives my some confidence for the months ahead that with a bit of specific training I'll be able to shave a few mins off today's time and be back on PB pace. I'm feeling great at the moment with absolutely no niggles !

I'm having a few issues with Blogger at the moment and have to enter my text in html script. It's a long story but has got something to do with MapMyRun.com and their new formatting.


So if it all looks a tad spazo for a while that's the reason


I'm running Striders @ North Head in the morning and will be tagging along with the 50:00 pacer. I figure that I ran 55:xx last month, so 50:xx is a good place to aim for this month. Will try and get closer to 45:xx in June. Well that's the aim anyway.


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Fat Friday !


Weight last Friday: 81kgs


Weight today: 80.7kgs


Comment: Downward movement !

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I'm finding it difficult to get my head around this whole training thing right now. I'm supposed to be in recovery mode after Canberra, yet feel that I should be busting a gut training for the SMH and beyond.


So today I decided that I'm feeling good and that I've had enough of whatever this recovery thing is. Time to run heaps of hills until C2S in August. Time to try and get some of that long lost speed (don't laugh) back.

I'm in a recovery mode today after the 10km in the sandpit. The legs recovered almost instantly (low impact) but a few of the manky toes from Canberra flared up again.


The run was OK and no niggles to report.