BRCC Community Blog

For those of you who have been waiting for more of the ‘blood, sweat and tears’ eleemnt to this blog, your time has come.  OK, not in a dramatic way, but the first strains on the body are starting to show.

Last Sunday I found a new route through to Chichester and down the tow path.  A round trip of about 17 miles and flat all the way.  On the return trip, having felt quite comfortable to that point, all of a sudden a shooting pain went through the top of my left foot.  Having had my fair share of ankle injuries in the past, this was a new one for me.  As usual in these situations the ‘run it off’ macho syndrome took over and so I kept going for the next 50 minutes.  Despite the occasional yelp when the foot planted in a certain position, I got home OK.  It was only later when my left foot couldn’t take my weight in getting downstairs that the extent of the problem became apparent.

So, two nights of ice compression packs and a week of rest were required.  Luckilly, that seems to have worked, and there was certainly no repeat during my 18 mile run this week.  My left calf did pull up tight at one point but a quick stretch and it has been fine since.  If this is as bad as the injury part goes then I won’t be complaining at all.  The 18 miler certainly took it out of me and there was a general leg soreness for a couple of days afterwards but that is, to a degree, to be expected. 

Next week sees me trying to complete the Silverstone Adidas 1/2 Marathon in a time comparable to what I am expecting to do on the big day.  Although I could run 13.1 miles on my own, the benefit of this race in particular is that Runners’ World magazine have pace-setters.   This is a really helpful way of making sure that you don’t go off too fast or too slow and maintain a steady pace throughout.  My pace is somewhere between the 8 minute and 8.5 minute mile pace so I think I’ll go with the latter pace-setter as that is the more realistic full marathon pace for me.  If there’s energy left in the last mile or two then I can always speed up.

Thanks to the students who have seen me out running and have spoken to me since – and thanks for not yelling abuse at the time!!  Thanks, too, for those of you who have contributed to the fundraising effort. 

Four more weeks of hard work to go before the taper!

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