A day of ups and downs

yep i was back in Durban for the Comrades marathon (why is it called a marathon when its 55+ plus miles) this year was the uphill version from Durban to Pietermaritzburg

I seem to remember that last year’s downhill run was basically 57 miles of running downhill (which is not as easy as you would think) which meant that this year’s uphill version would be 57 miles of running up hill which would be hard work, but as it turned out it seemed to be a lot easier (and shorter at only 56 miles) which goes with general opinion about the different versions, uphill tiring but easy(ish) on the legs, downhill not so tiring but your legs (quads) are trashed at the finish.

Losing my cap in the melee at the start was not good and my head suffered in the hot sun during the day fortunately i had my sun glasses in my bum bag, pouring water over my head at most checkpoints saved me from any real trouble...

It was a day of pain, from the start my right hip was hurting but after about 20 miles that disappeared to be replaced by my problematic right shin which was suffering on the up hills (but fine on the downs) after about another 10 miles this also disappeared to be replaced by pain in both IT bands for the last 20+ miles.

As always there was great support along the route from beginning to end and running through the park to the stadium finish was pretty special, i felt good at the finish and not particularly tired but it was a great to stop and sit down and get some relief from my sore knees...

Comrades is such a good race and my best running experience to date, but I’ve done both the down and uphill versions now so it’s time to move on and do something different, but I’m pretty sure that i will be back at some point.....

this time next week

hopefully i will have finished Comrades 2011, I've been walking and running the last week with a couple of long runs and miraculously my shin seems to be fine, which is remarkable when you consider how swollen and painful it was, let's hope it can handle 55 miles in Durban, this weeks plan is to do a couple of very short 30min runs and plenty of rest, i fly out on Thursday arriving early Friday morning, i will go and get registered at the expo and have a wonder around on Friday and rest up on Saturday, the race starts at 05:30 Sunday morning.

Bring it on.....

high as a kite.....

I've spent most of the last week high as a kite on pain killers, having hurt my leg training in Brecon and spending 5 days not able to walk i was forced to go and see the local physio who immediately suggested that i needed to get some proper pain relief and something to reduce the swelling from the doctors, the tablets took a couple of days to kick in but the effect was quite alarming....I'm now walking without any apparent discomfort (but that could just be the tablets!) so the plan it to stop taking them on Thursday with the aim to try a short run on Saturday, i have just over 2 weeks to Comrades the training is all done now, i just need to be running short pain free runs over the next 12 days or so and i should be OK, the muscle i hurt along with the achilles tendon control the up and down movement of the foot and takes quite a battering up and down hills and considering the amount of hill (mountain) work i have done in the last 2 months i can see why it decided that it had had enough, after a few days of agony the treatment consisted of keeping the weight off it for 4 days, followed by icing the area every couple of hours (even at work and over night) gentle stretching, ultrasound twice a day and of course some pretty strong anti inflammatories, add in some short walks and some praying and you basically summed up my last few weeks.