Pain management

Training miles completed this week: 16
Total training miles completed: 188
Training miles left: 25 + taper off period
Training runs left: 8

Hello again.

There's only 31 days left until I'll be lining up to start the marathon.  It feels like yesterday I remember the countdown being 180 days and thinking I had all the time in the world to train and prepare.

Training is definitely beginning to take it's toll now, with pretty much every day spent ignoring some form of pain.  I think that it (being in pain) has been so much of the norm for me over the past 4 years that I'm surprised that I can still really feel it at all.

But I can feel it and the major battle I've had this week has been in my mind.  For those of you who know me, you'll know that I'm a bit stubborn from time to time, and training is one of those areas where I'm the most bloody-minded of all.  I'll try and explain...

I've come to terms with the fact that it's unlikely I'll ever really lose the aches and pains in my foot if I want to continue any form of running based exercise.  It's the new, less familiar pain that I'm struggling to get used to.  When I did my 4 mile run last week, I had a bit of pain in my ankle joints and in my legs, but I passed it off as lack of proper stretching and warm-up.  I did 16 miles on Saturday morning and the pain was there again but I ran through it and it disappeared after about 4 miles.  (I managed the distance in 3:04 and I felt like I could have kept jogging/walking as well which was pleasing)

I Googled shin splints when I got in as it seemed to be the only condition I could think of that would make sense.  And reading through the causes and symptoms, it does make a lot of sense.  I'm not going to visit my GP for it as I know the answer is rest.  I also don't want someone to tell me I can't run because I've worked too hard to get to where I am.

On the other hand, I constantly remind myself that I've already done less training than someone preparing for their first marathon should do and so missing any distance at all never really seems acceptable to me.  I'm into the mindset that I'm 'only' doing 6 miles so it shouldn't be a problem, not really letting myself understand that 6 miles is a distance that means I need to take care.

Ultimately, my goal is to do the marathon and if that means cutting back on my training and resting sensibly then that's what I should do, no matter how hard it might be.

I've decided to skip my 6 mile run for tonight in favour of resting and keeping my 20 mile run on track for the weekend.  Whether that turns out to be a sensible decision or not, only time will tell but it feels like a good compromise.  I think I wrote some weeks back about saying that I'd cut down to one run a week if that's what I needed to do.  There's only 4 weeks left and I think getting this close to race day and feeling ready to compete is an achievement in itself.  If I only do 4 more runs instead of 8 then it doesn't really matter - I just need to convince myself of that.

I've conquered my battered ankle, (possible) shin splints, at least one stress fractured toe (possibly two) and now I just need to get the better of my own psyche.

I managed my blood sugar really well again on the last 16 mile jaunt (reaffirming my belief that the 18 mile run was so painful because I got things wrong).  I'm convinced now that 8 miles and then 4 jelly babies every 4 miles will get me round comfortably.  I'm glad to have one less thing to worry about.

There's been some more fundraising money in this week which is good news!  Current total is £575 and I'm hoping I can break the £700 barrier before April 22nd.  I'm becoming a bit more direct in terms of sponsorship requests now (as the people in my office will be finding out this week) so I'm still hopeful of making at least £700 before I top up the rest to £1000.  The generosity everyone has shown has been incredible!

As always, all money that I raise is being split between Diabetes UK and The Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity - two very worthy causes. The Children's Hospital money will be going to help fund a summer camp for children with diabetes which is very worthwhile.

I had an interesting conversation with my daughter this week.  She came up to tell me that she had a poorly tummy and she needed an injection to feel better.  She sees me injecting before meals and asks what I'm doing.  I tell her it's because I'm not very well and I have to take medicine.  It's hard to see her mimicking what I do because one of my big fears is that she'll end up the same way.  But I don't see the point in hiding it from her either.  Fortunately, this only lasted a couple of days this time.

Finally, a word on another blog you might enjoy.  A friend of mine has entered the Tough Mudder event in November and has started a training regime that will ultimately put me to shame.  You can follow Sam's progress here - it's a great read.  We seemed to have a bit of a virtual running club on Twitter at the moment and it's great to get support and chat things through with people doing the same thing.  A really valuable way to stay sane.  Thanks - you know who you are.

Have a good week - hopefully next time I'll be able to report on a decent 20 mile slog.

Take care

Andy

You can donate at any time by clicking on this fundraising link

2011 - A Review

Hello.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  And allow me to wish you an early 'Happy New Year' as well.

This is almost certainly going to be a longer post than normal so bear with it a bit.  I'm going to do my usual stuff about running and all that but finish off with a bit of a review of 2011 and a look forward to next year.

I mentioned in my last blog that I had three runs left before New Year.  Sadly that didn't quite turn out to be true.  I was all geared up to go running on Christmas Eve morning but I'd been feeling a bit more of an ache in my foot than was 'normal' so I decided to give it a miss.  I beat myself up about it for the rest of the day, but I think it was the right thing to do.  It seems like there's no point doing all the hard work just to be belligerent and run when I don't think my body can take it.

I did, however, get up at 6:45 this morning and managed 4 miles in a respectable 46 minutes.  The route is below, although I can't stress enough how steep two hills are over this distance.  Fortunately, these coincided with a couple of walk breaks so that was quite good...

It was nice to see the sun rising as I made it to the top of the first hill.  It was also nice to think I only had a mile left by that point as well.  Running on the flat feels really good and I managed a bit of downhill running as well today which felt OK.  I suppose training on the slopes of Sheffield can only be beneficial for the relatively flat course in London.

I'm starting to feel the after effects a bit more now and I'll have an ache and a bit of pain for a few days after each run now where before that wasn't the case.  With that in mind, I've decided to cut back down to 2 runs a week for a little while and see if that helps.  It'll make training a bit more difficult but as I've said a few times already, it was never going to be easy.  

I've negotiated Christmas Day and Boxing Day meals relatively unscathed diabetes wise which is really promising as well.  It's fair to say that December hasn't been as controlled as other months, but I feel like my understanding has been refreshed and that in itself means I can get through more difficult periods like Christmas without feeling like I'm spiralling out of control.

I've done pretty well to resist the various cakes, chocolates and biscuits that are laying around the house (to a certain degree at least).  I think my experiences with my diet and migraines over the last week or two is a bit of a factor in that as much as the diabetes, and, when all's said and done, I don't have the same appetite I used to have when I could eat plates of food without thinking.  I guess the diet and exercise has paid off quite a bit.

I had a bit of a difficult moment on Boxing Day when all the family went to my sister's house for lunch.  I'd just done my insulin injection (into my stomach as usual) when my daughter asked me what I was doing.  I told her that daddy had to do some medicine (which I've told her before).  But then she lifted her top up and started copying me saying "I do medicine".

I think I mentioned a while back when I was talking about my sponsorship and things about how I constantly have a worry that I've passed on my diabetes to her.  When she started mimicking my actions, it was quite difficult to take.  I'm now torn between doing my shot away from her so she can't see, or carry on as everything is "normal" - which of course it is for me.  I guess that's something I'll deal with over the next few weeks.

So - what has 2011 mean for me?  I've been thinking about some of the major things that have happened this year and while it's impossible to remember or mention everything, here are a few that have stood out for me:

• We finally moved house to be back closer to our family.  We sold pretty much a year ago and finally moved at the beginning of March
• Celebrated my daughter's first birthday (and now her second is on the horizon already), the old saying about how time flies never seems more true than when you're watching your kids grow up
• I had my first casino experience when I went to Las Vegas in September.  I've wanted to go for so long and it exceeded my expectations more than I thought possible
• I've made a lot of trips to see my beloved Sheffield Wednesday this season - one of the perks of being back home
• I've made a lot of new friends and contacts on Twitter which is really good
• I've got my physical condition back under control after a good three years of disregarding what I should be doing
• I've started running again after almost 4 years back when I thought it would never actually be possible again.  I know that sounds melodramatic but it's the honest truth

And now there's 2012 to look forward to:

•  My daughter's second birthday
• Running/walking/crawling round the London marathon course and hopefully making my magic £1,000 fundraising target
• A trip to the Olympics in London over the summer
• Hopefully a couple of long weekends away somewhere
• A friend's wedding in Poland on my birthday

And finally a few resolutions:

• Get good enough at photography to get one picture published somewhere
• Keep running and training for the Sheffield Half Marathon in 2013 (my nemesis)
• Do my best to focus on expanding my company 
• Stay involved with the community through sponsorship and donations
• Try and turn some online friendships into real life ones (if anyone online wants to of course)
• See at least 12 gigs (one a month seems a reasonable goal)
• Carry on my blog in some form or another after the marathon

I think that's about it for this year.  Thanks for all your support and kind words over the last 4 months or so. It's really encouraging and I hope I can do you all proud in April.  Remember, you can always donate to the cause on my fundraising page  if you'd like. Every single pound is most gratefully received and will do wonders for both charities. 

You can follow me on Twitter (@BroomOwl) or drop me an email (broomowl@gmail.com) if you fancy a chat.

Again, I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve, whatever you've got planned and I hope 2012 brings you joy and happiness.

Thanks for reading, take care

Andy