An enforced week off

It turned out that rolling my ankle last Sunday resulted in more of an injury than I first thought.  It was very sore walking down stair on Monday morning.

What didn't help at all was falling off my bike on the way too work.  My handlebars had come loose and took me by surprise when they rocked sharply.  I over compensated and jackknifed.  It think it was quite spectacular as I learched over the handlebars.  Luckily, no cars were near and I escaped with a skinless elbow, a grazed shin and a sore hip.

The hip and ankle have kept me out all week with another bloody cold on Friday adding insult to injury.

So its now Sunday and I am thinking of just heading out for a gentle few miles to test the various injuries.  That way I will know my plan of attack for next week.  I think my hip is back to normal but I can still feel an ankle twinge when walking downstairs.  We will see.

Post op and training plan

So its been 5 days since the op and recovery is going well. I've gone from immobility to walking OK. My right thigh is one big bruise in a range a beautiful colours and I have stitches in a place that needed a particularly steady hand from the surgeon (I'm glad I didn't think too much about that before hand).

I have to walk a little everyday before my stitches are removed on the 27th and then I might go for an easy swim and cycle at Centre Parks over New Year. I will return to gentle training on the 9th if everything goes to plan but I am aware that the docs did say 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not sure why. If my stitches are out and the wound has healed, what harm can running do. Especially as they are encouraging me to walk everyday to improve circulation.

Anyway, I am having to concentrate really hard on my eating. Its so hard. There is a giant tin of Quality Street on the side, loads of cheese in the fridge and Panettone in the cupboard. I must be strong.

I'm staying focused by doing my ironman training plan. I have a book called "Be Iron Fit" by Don Fink which seems really good. There is three training programs, Competitive, Intermediate and Just Finish. I've gone for the middle one, Intermediate, as it seems reasonable for me.

The first 10 weeks (Base) averages out as 8.5 hours a week, the 2nd 10 weeks (Build) averages as 11.5 and the final 10 weeks (Peak) is 13 hours. It looks doable on paper, probably different in reality.

Point of destruction

Well, it seems that I ran myself into the ground last weekend. I felt achy and tired after the run and of course my knee was hurt but I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary after such a tough run.

However, by Wednesday, when all the usual aches and pains had gone, I was left with a very sore right knee and a very bad back. I found out how bad on Thursday night. I went to a Christmas party and forgot my wallet on the table when I left at the end of the evening. I got to the bus stop before I realised so made my way back. I was now late for the baby sitter so ran back to the restaurant. After 30 seconds of running I pulled up with stunning pain shooting through both my knee and back.

The knee pain subsided but the back didn't. I had trouble sleeping that night and I can still feel twinges in both areas. I guess it was the 2 ltrs of water in the Camelbak that did some of the damage.

So it looks like no running until after Christmas (I have a small operation on Wednesday to have a vein removed from my leg) so I'm done for the year. My 2009 stats are complete. Not happy about that but I guess I finished on a high with the marathon.