Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

Martynt74 said:
@neoboy i guess i have to ask then, if you've never enjoyed a run, why do you persist? Is it not worth finding another activity which engages you more? Given you love hiking then maybe it's worth trying more trail based runs to see if that increases enjoyment for you?
Click to expand...

Well I can't deny the health benefits and it's a physical activity that requires very little equipment and takes less time than walking which is actually one of the reasons I started running.

But yes, I think because I wasn't doing anything with it and lot of races weren't happening, it just felt a bit pointless (one of the reasons I just can't run on a treadmill), unless it has a purpose I get bored with most things. Hoping that implementing more trail based running and actually training for events next year is going to help once this silly ankle heals up.

Now that the massive swelling is gone I seem to be on the slow healing stage with that, still hoping there's no lasting damage or ligament tear there.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Saw a knee specialist yesterday, he thinks I've got a torn meniscus in my left knee. Got an MRI booked for next week and will then go back to see him. I get the impression he thinks I should just stick to cycling. Cycling is definitely my passion, but running was quite handy for certain scenarios (limited time, poor weather etc) so will be a shame if it's no longer an option.
Click to expand...

For reference, for anyone interested and might be having problems with their knees, the official verdict a left knee medial meniscal tear -

The MRI scan does confirm my clinical suspicion that he does have a tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus which is displaced anterior to the posterior horn which is best seen on the coronal images.
Click to expand...

:eek:

I think this is my first time going private. If I chose surgery, he could have me in this week and I wouldn't even miss time off work, just limit time off my feet for a week. I could be cycling again in 4 weeks. Surgery would be £5k, draining the knee and an injection would be £1k (:eek:) or we wait and see how it goes. Apparently it's not uncommon for the tear to separate and float off into the back of the knee where it's perfectly safe. As it has seemed to get better this last week, I'll take anti inflammatories for a week and see how it is near the end of December. If it's still bad I'll likely do the surgery.

I remember when I injured my right knee almost 30 years ago, it took 12 months just to get the MRI done...
 
Times like this i question whether i was right to switch jobs and lose private medical insurance :(

Glad to hear it's got a little better on it's own. Is it possible to take the MRI results to your GP to join an NHS waiting list?
 
We have had a few occasions where we paid for the initial private thing and the guy then put us onto his own NHS list once they had the results.
 
Yeah, don't get me started on NHS and trouble I had with my knee surgeries and other sports related injuries in the past. Made a real mistake in life being poor and not being able to afford private healthcare/BUPA :D

Kinda why I'm not bothering to go to them with this ankle, but was wondering if it's worth trying a private physio to speed up recovery or even assess if I torn anything. Did the local hilly 5k walk yesterday and tried jogging for a short distance, definitely not ready for anything with impact yet. Quite a bit pain below the ankle, almost feels like heel pain still so think I'm definitely out until next year but will continue walking.
 
Sorry to hear that. Mine still isn't right and it's been 3 months now. It's hard to know whether doing things differently would've changed things. I was told by a few people that as long as it didn't properly hurt it was fine, but i do wonder if more rest would've meant it was now fully healed. I guess on the flip side, my fitness wouldn't be where it is now if i'd had longer off and done less running so it's all a trade off!

In sad news i've lost my hat. Was on a local field trying to draw some poppies for a group challenge (some of you might've seen my awful attempts), and i threw my hat down to mark a spot in the hope it helped me navigate where i was running. However i think a dog stole it because when i was finished there was a stick in it's place. I can only imagine a dog was carrying a stick, then spotted a sweaty hat and thought "i'm having a bit of that"
 
Maybe it evolved?

Is the drawing thing meant to make the running just that bit more tricky? or was it unrelated to running?
 
Was part of a running challenge, Novembers challenge was to draw 3 poppies on Strava. Being my last minute self i went out on the last day adding it onto the end of a run!

They're generally been very do-able, with the odd toughie thrown in. The elevation one mainly!

Jan - Run 20.21 miles
Feb - 1 mile each day or 1x28 mile run
Mar - 4 x 4 mile runs at set times (one was 2:22am)
Apr - Run 30 miles
May - 4 x 4 mile runs
Jun - Run 1 mile in each hour of the day
Jul - Run underr/over 50 canal bridges on the Leeds Liverpool Canal
Aug - Run 100 miles
Sept - Climb 30 stiles
Oct - Run 29048ft of elevation
Nov - Draw 3 poppies
Dec - Run 12 days of Christmas (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12)
 
Ahh... for some reason i was thinking that you were doing it on paper whilst sitting with your beret on and sucking a paintbrush :-)
 
Right, so with us hitting December i thought i'd see how people were doing with yearly goals? On track? Already smashed them or fallen short?

At the start of the year I set 2 which i've fallen well short of.

Run 1300 miles
Hit 100,000ft of ascent

I'm currently at 700 miles and 46,000ft of ascent.

It feels like i've had a lot of periods where i've not ran much, so to get to 700 miles doesn't feel too bad. It's still an average of 15 a week. I'm hoping to finish this month strong and hit 800 which should certainly be do-able and not much less than my 2020 total. Ascent wise i have no chance. I'll hit 50k easily enough but given it wasn't the hardest of challenges it's a shame. Just not spent enough time in the hills at key points.

Next year i think i'll stick to the same goals and hopefully achieve them, possibly even increase the mileage one.
 
No goal as such but with having my London marathon training I'm at 1513 Mi for the year. Been really really super lax the last couple months and having had a bad cold the last few weeks it's just really dropped off. Doesn't help that during the race I damaged a toe nail (presumed too tight on my shoes so it went black during the race) which has now just decided it's going to come off, but doesn't want to really come off and is loose and hanging on by an edge, so I catch it on everything...soon it will free itself and I can remove that issue from my life!

Last few times I've been out I'm mostly fine and pace is close to my usual training pace but heart rate is up so I know I need to get back into some rhythm to not lose too much fitness. Need to eye up a Feb/March race I think to give a little motivation.
 
Itchytrigg said:
Last few times I've been out I'm mostly fine and pace is close to my usual training pace but heart rate is up so I know I need to get back into some rhythm to not lose too much fitness. Need to eye up a Feb/March race I think to give a little motivation.
Click to expand...

I hate those toenails that just won't come off, i'm fairly lucky in that i don't suffer many nails falling off, but they are pretty black/horrible underneath, mainly from running in mud and it seems to sink into the skin and never come clean until i resort to soaking them in bleach! I wish i could just have them all removed!

Yeah i think that's key. I've got my Spain race which is providing motivation, but have booked in a few shorter ~15-20 mile events around it for training and then looking for something in the summer just to stop me falling from a cliff after the event.
 
I am also potentially thinking into investing one of those Garmin watches too, at the moment if I want to check my pace, HR etc I gotta unlock my phone with MapMyRun which is a clunky solution.

Could be handy for hiking too or at least that's how much I'm starting to justify the cost :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom