Thursday 26 May 2011
New Goal
I have decided to give myself a goal. Seeing that the last week has been very positive for me. I will aim to do the 5 k race on Melbourne Marathon day. In a week I will start a training program geared towards this and it should be enough time to make the transition. And so it begins.
Sunday 22 May 2011
Fuck yeah!!
Back in February I woke up with a sore knee. I had run in a 4km handicap race the day before but did not feel any pain during the run and nor did I pull up sore.
I hoped that it was just something very minor and that I’d be able to resume training after a day or two off. It didn’t go away and I could not run without debilitating pain so I was off to the physio. He suspected a torn meniscus and this was later confirmed by a specialist. My options were made clear: no surgery, but pretty much give up running, or have arthroscopy and hope that knee comes good. I was keen for surgery as I’d read here and elsewhere that there is a good success rate for returning to running after meniscal repair. Unfortunately, I soon found out that my health insurance would not cover me and I was staring at a minimum of 10 months waiting for surgery.
Because I couldn’t run, I spent more time reading running forums like this one and trying to vicariously experience everyone’s running stories. I became particularly fascinated with the ‘Transitioning to Barefoot’ thread and read every post on it.
I was really envious of some of the people doing it but still had the feeling in the back of my mind, that good bio-mechanics were playing a part in the success of some of the transitions.
When I started running, I couldn’t run more than 15 minutes without being unable to walk the next day. I had painful knees and back and it seemed that I wasn’t built for running, even though I enjoyed doing it (not the next day’s pain). Eventually, I saw a podiatrist and got orthotics prescribed with the appropriate stability shoes. This allowed me to run pain free and pretty much injury free for the next 6 years. I completed a marathon and several fun runs. I accepted that I needed some mechanical intervention to allow me to run without pain. So although I liked the idea of running barefoot/minimalist, I thought that it would be impossible for me.
A couple of months ago I downloaded the Merrell Barefoot app and decided to just follow the exercises in there as I figured that even though I wouldn’t be able to run, it wouldn’t hurt to do some foot and lower leg strengthening for when I could run again.
In the meantime, my stubbornness and impatience got the better of me on occasion and I would lace up the Adrenalines and try a tentative run, trying to convince myself that that little niggle in my knee was much better with all the rest. Within seconds the pain would be worse than it has ever been.
So I persisted with all the barefoot exercises and pretty much abandoned all shoes when not necessary and started to feel stronger in the feet.
I decided that I didn’t have much to lose and tried to do some of the short runs in the program, and to my complete surprise, I could run. Not far, but pain free. I persisted and it was definitely a slow process, sometimes I had to wait a week between runs for my calves to settle down. They got stronger and my runs have increased slowly.
The point of this whole post is because yesterday I had a watershed moment in my transition. I ran just over 3km (yes, only 3km, but this is the furthest I’ve gone since the injury). It wasn’t the distance that thrilled me, it was how effortless it felt, it was how painless it felt.
Today I have sore calves, but that nice sore you have after a run. I know I’ll be right in a day or two to do that again and providing everything continues to progress, I can’t see my self in anything but minimalist/barefoot again.
I will never say that this is the way everyone should go. I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been hurt, just the timing I guess. I will say this though, we should all keep an open mind to this. I’ve had podiatrist and physios actually tell me that I should minimise any barefoot activity because my feet were so flat and over pronating. After a couple of months, my feet actually look different and I have arches.
Anyway I hope this might inspire people to be patient with the transition and hopefully you’ll be rewarded.
I hoped that it was just something very minor and that I’d be able to resume training after a day or two off. It didn’t go away and I could not run without debilitating pain so I was off to the physio. He suspected a torn meniscus and this was later confirmed by a specialist. My options were made clear: no surgery, but pretty much give up running, or have arthroscopy and hope that knee comes good. I was keen for surgery as I’d read here and elsewhere that there is a good success rate for returning to running after meniscal repair. Unfortunately, I soon found out that my health insurance would not cover me and I was staring at a minimum of 10 months waiting for surgery.
Because I couldn’t run, I spent more time reading running forums like this one and trying to vicariously experience everyone’s running stories. I became particularly fascinated with the ‘Transitioning to Barefoot’ thread and read every post on it.
I was really envious of some of the people doing it but still had the feeling in the back of my mind, that good bio-mechanics were playing a part in the success of some of the transitions.
When I started running, I couldn’t run more than 15 minutes without being unable to walk the next day. I had painful knees and back and it seemed that I wasn’t built for running, even though I enjoyed doing it (not the next day’s pain). Eventually, I saw a podiatrist and got orthotics prescribed with the appropriate stability shoes. This allowed me to run pain free and pretty much injury free for the next 6 years. I completed a marathon and several fun runs. I accepted that I needed some mechanical intervention to allow me to run without pain. So although I liked the idea of running barefoot/minimalist, I thought that it would be impossible for me.
A couple of months ago I downloaded the Merrell Barefoot app and decided to just follow the exercises in there as I figured that even though I wouldn’t be able to run, it wouldn’t hurt to do some foot and lower leg strengthening for when I could run again.
In the meantime, my stubbornness and impatience got the better of me on occasion and I would lace up the Adrenalines and try a tentative run, trying to convince myself that that little niggle in my knee was much better with all the rest. Within seconds the pain would be worse than it has ever been.
So I persisted with all the barefoot exercises and pretty much abandoned all shoes when not necessary and started to feel stronger in the feet.
I decided that I didn’t have much to lose and tried to do some of the short runs in the program, and to my complete surprise, I could run. Not far, but pain free. I persisted and it was definitely a slow process, sometimes I had to wait a week between runs for my calves to settle down. They got stronger and my runs have increased slowly.
The point of this whole post is because yesterday I had a watershed moment in my transition. I ran just over 3km (yes, only 3km, but this is the furthest I’ve gone since the injury). It wasn’t the distance that thrilled me, it was how effortless it felt, it was how painless it felt.
Today I have sore calves, but that nice sore you have after a run. I know I’ll be right in a day or two to do that again and providing everything continues to progress, I can’t see my self in anything but minimalist/barefoot again.
I will never say that this is the way everyone should go. I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been hurt, just the timing I guess. I will say this though, we should all keep an open mind to this. I’ve had podiatrist and physios actually tell me that I should minimise any barefoot activity because my feet were so flat and over pronating. After a couple of months, my feet actually look different and I have arches.
Anyway I hope this might inspire people to be patient with the transition and hopefully you’ll be rewarded.
Monday 16 May 2011
This morning was the third consecutive 22 minute run in barefoot/minimalist shoes. The program I'm working from is the Merrell Barefoot i-phone app and I now have only 10 more sessions to complete in the program.
This morning I went a little further than the last run (an extra couple of hundred metres), to run 3.4 km for 22 minutes.
The most pleasing thing about this morning's run was the fact that I had no pain in the knee with the meniscal injury. The last two times it would flare up for a few minutes befor calming down as the run progressed.
Maybe it's the improvement in my form, maybe it's me getting back on the glucosamine, but something is definitely working for me.
So it looks a s though my run durations may not be increasing in the next couple of weeks, but if my calves start recovering quicker, I may be increasing the frequency of the runs.
Since Friday I have been able to run a total of ten kilometres and I can't tell you how this has lifted my mood and energy levels. I can see the end result a bit more clearly now.
This morning I went a little further than the last run (an extra couple of hundred metres), to run 3.4 km for 22 minutes.
The most pleasing thing about this morning's run was the fact that I had no pain in the knee with the meniscal injury. The last two times it would flare up for a few minutes befor calming down as the run progressed.
Maybe it's the improvement in my form, maybe it's me getting back on the glucosamine, but something is definitely working for me.
So it looks a s though my run durations may not be increasing in the next couple of weeks, but if my calves start recovering quicker, I may be increasing the frequency of the runs.
Since Friday I have been able to run a total of ten kilometres and I can't tell you how this has lifted my mood and energy levels. I can see the end result a bit more clearly now.
Sunday 15 May 2011
Rinse and repeat
Had another run on the treadmill today, with same time and this time 3.22 km in 20 minutes.
Happy days and I've also discovered Twitter, but not so sure if it's a good thing.
Happy days and I've also discovered Twitter, but not so sure if it's a good thing.
Friday 13 May 2011
Darkest before the dawn
I took a bit of a risk yesterday. I decided that I would try a 20 minute slow run on a treadmill. Partly because of the shitty weather, I decided to try this run on the treadmill. The other part of my reasoning was that i was tending to get sharp pain in my calf when I was going up a hill. Maybe the consistent flat of the treadmill would allow my muscles to adapt and get stronger. So the good news is I managed 20 minutes and 3 km of running. I haven't been able to do that since February and needless to say, I've had a smile on my face since. I am really hoping this is just the beginning.
Tuesday 10 May 2011
Pop and stop
Today I set out after a week recovering from last week's calf strain. It was all going so well and at the 4 minute mark everything was going great. Then without any warning I there was what felt like a light tap to the back of my leg, low in the calf and high in the Achilles. I stopped immediately and pulled the plug on the run. The last thing I wanted was a ruptured Achilles tendon. The rest of the day has been pain free so it's another wait and recovery before next run.
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Only calf the problem
On Monday my calf felt fine and so I decided to test it out with what would hopefully turn out to be a 20 minute amble interspersed with a 1 minute walk. In the end it turned out to be only 14 minutes and my calf being sore again. So this time, I will give it more time and do some stretching and strengthening before I go again.
Strangely, despite the setback I a feeling more optimistic and feel like I am on the right track. I am learning to be extremely patient, but I do get so envious when I see people out running and I want to be them.
Strangely, despite the setback I a feeling more optimistic and feel like I am on the right track. I am learning to be extremely patient, but I do get so envious when I see people out running and I want to be them.
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