2007 May Archive at Comrades Marathon Blog

Monthly Archive for May, 2007

A Time for Patience

Published
by
Andrew
on 29 May, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

It’s rather hard keeping a running blog going when one isn’t running. For me, it’s kind of a symbiotic relationship, running and blogging. Do I run to blog, or do I blog to run?

Anyway, I’m finished with physio, so now I’m on my own. I’m currently able to run 5 minutes on a treadmill, with an ankle brace for about 5 minutes, with no pain. I plan to hold this for this week, then increase it to 7 minutes next week. The idea is just slowly increasing the amount of running, getting my ankle used the pounding that it has to endure when running.

I just have to patient, nothing else. I’ll be running normally within 3 months if all goes well.

Cycling however, causes me no pain, so it’s something I’ve been enjoying. I haven’t been that dedicated towards it, but am slowly getting into it. Sunday saw me go for my longest cycle, 67km, to Noordhoek via Chapmans Peak. Expect a post about that ride soon.

I’d like to finish this odd post off with a pretty graph of amount of hours I’ve exercised per week since July 2006. You can clearly see the dip of when I had my cast on.

Bloggers planning to run Comrades

Published
by
Andrew
on 20 May, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 6 Comments

Runner’s world published an excellent article by Amby Burfoot, where he details his journey to completing the Comrades up run of 2006. It’s an excellent article, and he illustrates how lucky we South Africans are to have such a great race on our doorstep.

I have a Technorati watchlist for “Comrades Marathon” so that I can pick up when a blogger mentions the race. After the article, I’ve picked up a few bloggers who plan to run the race, some of them have even been inspired by Amby Burfoot’s article. Just a few to keep note of:

  • The Traveling Ultra Runner - I’m very jealous, this runner has quit his job, and will be traveling the world, stopping off here, in South Africa, to run Comrades. He leaves on the 21st of May, so will be running this year.
  • Michael’s “Crazy Idea” - Michael from Conversations with a Stone plans to run it in 2009, it’s it’s quite far off, but great to see the enthusiasm over the great race.
  • I keep running - Scott plans to run in 2008, and has only just started training, so it should be interesting to see how he comes along.
  • The Parvus Challenge - Chad also plans to run in 2008, after being challenged by his Dad to join his uncle in running his 30th Comrades.

So hopefully Scott and Chad will be able to join me in 2008, so good luck with the training guys and I look forward to seeing on the road!

Update: Tom Steiner is also planning to run Comrades in 2008. Follow his progress at here. 

Like a piece of lead

Published
by
Andrew
on 20 May, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

Cape Town is currently experiencing some rather cold and wet weather. While it’s a nice change, it doesn’t help as I planned to get some longer cycles in this weekend. So I decided to go to the gym, except I thought I’d try the swimming thing.

Now, I’m a land animal.  I can run and cycle, both of which, I enjoy. Swimming however, I don’t enjoy. I’m aware of the benefits of swimming, and after buying goggle’s and a swim cap several months ago, I finally put them to use today.

So this evening I head down the gym, and decide to try out this swimming thing. Very quickly I rediscovered that I swim like a piece of lead. I was absolutely exhausted after swimming crawl just one length. I suffered through a few lengths, then switched to breaststroke. Surprisingly, I managed about 20 more lengths, then gave up. A total of 26 lengths, and 18 minutes of swimming.

After a run, and sometimes a cycle, I feel great, like I’ve achieved something. My swim this evening left me with a headache, pretty much how a piece of lead might feel after being thrown into a pool. Not a feeling of achievement, no. But I’m not giving up, I’m going to buy fins (or flippers if you prefer) tomorrow, which will aid in the recovery of my ankle. I suspect I simply need need to improve my stroke so that I swim more efficiently, which will hopefully allow me to enjoy the swimming more.

So if you see me at the Virgin Active in Sea Point, please don’t point and laugh, I’m a runner.

Can I run yet?

Published
by
Andrew
on 19 May, 2007
in Uncategorized
.

This is a long overdue post, but I guess it’s time for me to describe how my rehabilitation is going so far.

The first goal of rehabilitation is to get full movement back in the ankle, as well as strengthening the lower leg. To regain the flexibility in my ankle, I’ve been cycling, and a few simple exercises. This has gone very well, and within 3 weeks of getting my cast off, I had full motion back. For the lower leg strengthening, there are balancing exercises, (Proprioception) and calve raises. My physio had me doing other exercises, which involves pieces of rubber tube, but I’ll delve into that some other time.

So stage 1 is essentially complete, and my progress has gone very well. Humility is still important, else I deviate from the path and it could effect me in the long term. However, my ankle is now as strong as it was before the operation, but far more stable.

The second stage involves getting the ankle used to the pounding of running, specifically on tar. As Tim Noakes says, “humans are designed to run, just not on tar.” Last week, I started field exercises, which consisted of the following exercises, each for 5 minutes:

  • Large figure of 8s - The size of a football field.
  • Zig-Zags - at a 30 degree angle.
  • Large circles, clockwise and anti-clockwise
  • Running forward-backwards-forwards

This stage has not gone as smoothly as I would have hoped. After each run, my ankle has been feeling rather stiff, but this it just it getting used to the effect of  pounding. So I’m reducing the amount of running from twice a week, to once a week, and will continue cycling and continue strengthening the ankle.

Patience is key here, and my goal is to be able run in the long term, not to be able to complete a half marathon in a month time.