Legs felt a bit better tonight - not back to normal yet, but hopefully heading that way. I am having a day off tomorrow (long day up to Watford and back) but that's probably not a bad thing.

Really quick run tonight as the gym closes at the ridiculous hour of 7pm on a Friday. I could've gone outside but I wanted to do some speedwork and I prefer to do that on a treadmill. It's much easier to monitor what you're doing. Plus I don't even own a watch.

10 x minutes crosstrainer.
1.5 mile warm up run
6 x 200 metre sprints with 100m recoveries @ 9.30 pace (first three) and 8.40 pace (last three)

I seem to be suffering, this week, from something that feels very much like shin splints. I haven't had any pains like this for a very long time - not since the full on days of marathon training.

I don't think it can actually be shin splints, because normally they are brought on by overtraining, or by running on hard surfaces, or by doing too much too soon or something, hardly accurate for me this week. I'm trying to think back to what I've done lately for some clues. Before I went on holiday, I was doing quite a lot of short, hard runs, with a couple of longer, slower runs thrown in here and there. I didn't really experience any leg pain at all during these workouts. The toughness of the runs came from running faster.

Nearly all of those runs were done on a treadmill. Then, when I went on holiday I ran on paved roads. The first one I did, I really noticed that my legs felt quite sore, but I was able to carry on. The second one felt the same, maybe a little worse. But again, I was able to complete the whole four miles.

My first visit back to the gym this week, described in my last post, felt insanely tough. I'd not run for six days, but even so. I could only manage twenty minutes before I actually thought my lower legs would snap. I couldn't really understand it and it made me feel miserable.

Yesterday I went back to the gym hoping it was just a blip, but I actually had to stop running after just 13 minutes. My lower legs, at the back, just above the heel (what is this? achilles tendon? soleus muscle? I'm not really sure) felt so incredibly tight and rigid and painful that I was unable to carry on. I went and sat on a bench and pummelled them a bit and they were as hard as steel. Like trying to massage a lamppost. It was also very swollen, on the left side, where my hang-gliding scar is. I just sat and rubbed them for ten minutes and did loads of stretching, and then got back on the treadmill. It felt a little better. I ran a mile at 10.40 min pace. But it was still pretty sore towards the end.

I felt quite depressed last night. I was going to write a post that just said:

June 11th - 26.2 miles
August 23rd - 1.2 miles

but I decided against it. That's what was on my mind though. How, just over two months ago, could I run a marathon, albeit very slowly, and now not be able to run a couple of miles? It doesn't make sense.

Tonight I went to the gym with the intention of trying to run four miles, which is what the plan has been for the last two nights, but then once I was there, I just thought - sod this. I'm just going to have a good workout then go home. I'm not going to set myself any running goals tonight. So when I got on the treadmill, I just started running without any plan. It did feel a little bit better tonight. The pain was much less. I got to twenty minutes and stopped, but felt that I could have carried on. I thought that was a good way to leave it. I'll go again tomorrow if I get time, or Sunday. Hopefully by then, it'll be back to normal. I really hope so.

Wednesday:

15 x mins crosstrainer
13 x mins run
10 x mins cardiowave
20 x mins weights
15 x mins powerplate

Thursday:

15 x mins crosstrainer
20 x mins treadmill
15 x mins step machine
15 x mins cardiowave
20 x mins powerplate
5 x mins treadmill ('sprint')

I also found this blog which is quite informative

Back home.

Could only grab an hour in the gym tonight as I had to work late.

I was a lazy fucker on holiday all last week in France; I only ran twice, making up excuses about the rain and the heat, and now I'm paying for it. But really, I don't think I'm cut out to be a runner. I feel like a fraud just writing the word 'runner'. I'm trying to be a realist rather than a defeatist - and I just think I might need to find a different sport. If, after not running for six days, I struggle to run even twenty minutes then I kind of don't see the point really. How can I just lose it so quickly? For me, if I'm going to commit a lot of time to something, then I've either got to enjoy it or feel that somewhere along the line, I'm getting better at it, which would be its own reward. With running, I don't feel either. I feel like I'm going backwards, literally and figuratively. It's not that it's hard work. I don't give a shit about that. It's just the total lack of progress.

15 x mins crosstrainer
30 x mins treadmill
10 x mins powerplate