“If you greatly desire something,
have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it”
Brendan Francis

Resting HR (average): 60

Injury status: Both shins 4/10

Neural stretching (knee to nose. averages in cm):
Baseline 29; Afterwards 25

This week was even worse than the preceding week. I started off with a couple of runs, but then the Shins started to become sore. It’s frustrating, but I believe it’s also related to my neural tension, as opposed to muscle soreness.

The second half of the week was simply laziness, struggling to get up and questioning whether I want to or can run the Comrades marathon. I guess these are the struggles every Comrades marathon runner goes through, but it would nice to be able to train without the injuries compounding the difficulty.

As I’ve been struggling to wake up, I’ve decided to stop taking my sleeping tablets, as they may be one of my biggest hindrances. I’ve stopped going to the musculoskeletal specialist because I don’t think he had anything to offer, and was simply charging me a fortune to keep reviewing me without doing anything!

Once again I find “If it is to be, it’s up to me…”

“The starting point of alla chievement is desire”
Napoleon Hill

“The distance doesn’t matter,
it’s only the first step that is difficult”
Madame du Deffand

Resting HR (average): 60

Injury status: (R) Calf 1/10

Neural stretching (knee to nose. averages in cm):
Baseline 31; Afterwards 26

This week was simply not good enough! I started off with a couple of good runs doing 10km and then 12km on Wednesday.

However then I started to get slightly achey shins and calves, just from not being used to running, so I took a couple of days off.

Then I started to feel slightly dizzy, spaced out, which I think is from the medication/sleeping tablets I’ve been taking. A few days off won’t hurt, but I really need to start working on the base, as once 40 weeks to go comes around for Comrades I’ll really need to start building up, and there won’t be any second chances. Next week I’ve got to do 50km+ and start getting rid of the potbelly…

“Success has its price,
you can pay it if you will ”
Robert Laidlaw

“To believe in the heroic, makes heroes”
Disraeli

Resting HR (average): 58

Injury status: (R) Calf 2/10

Neural stretching (knee to nose. averages in cm):
Baseline 31; Afterwards 25

This week felt like starting at the beginning once again. Low mileage, low fitness, and a body that doesn’t seem to travel very quickly, smoothly or efficently, and where you wonder how you could ever contemplate running the Comrades of  90km!

It felt good to manage 5 runs, albeit only 8km at a time. It’s a good start and the key now is to get the fitness and mileage slowly up to what it was.

The resting heart rate is averaging closer to 60, so that needs to fall by about 10, and I haven’t wanted to weigh myself because I know I won’t like the result!

The right calf injury seems to be largely under control, even though it has felt slightly sore and vulnerable a couple of times. Out of all the physios, doctors and scans I have seen and had done, I believe the neural stretching is the thing that controls my symptoms, and they are directly proportional to my neural tightness. I’ve been working hard with my stretching, and that has resulted in my baseline measurements coming down 6cm this week.

I am also taking a tricyclic tablet in the evenings to try and help me sleep through the night and reduce central hypersensitivity (essentially a over responsive neural system), the downside being it’s hard to get up in the mornings to train! However this coming week I aim to increase the mileage slightly, (if I can do 50km I’d be happy), and also start doing my upper body and core stability work again…

“It is more valuabe to look where you are going
than to see where you have been “

“Anyone can start. Winners finish!”

Resting HR (average): 60

Injury status: (R) Calf 2/10

Neural stretching (knee to nose. averages in cm):
Baseline 37; Afterwards 32

This week saw upward progress and a small ray of sunshine in what has been a month of darkness! I had a small goal to run 8km 3 times during the week.

I managed to run 8km Monday, Wednesday and Friday as I set out to do. However Wednesdays’ run was uncomfortable and my right calf was felt like it was tightening up again. It was sore after my run also, and I feared that Friday’s run would cause it to blow up. However Friday’s run was reasonably comofortable.

In between on Tuesday and Thursday I did a bit of work on the exercycle.

I’ve tried to up the ante on my neural stretches, as it seems to have been the only thing my body responds to. I now have to try and manage them 3x a day. They are slowly getting better again, although they are always painful to do! It’s simply the degree of pain I can tolerate that varies!

On Saturday we went down to the Gold Coast for the Gold Coast marathon. Rheanna ran her first half-marathon in a time of 2:22! You can read about it here. I just watched all the runners, wishing I could be out there…oh well I have to keep working away at it…

“Be proud of how far you have come.
Have faith in how far you can go”