DNF Twisted Ankle

I have waited 24 hours to write this blog as I want to be honest with how I feel and not turn it into a winge fest of indulgent self pity (I hope that at the end of this post I have avoided that). So here goes lets state the obvious I had to pull out of this race the good news was I did not have to pull out because of my foot injury although my foot being weak did not help.

The night before the race I was nervous and scared, strange feeling to have now but I think it was down to the fact that all joking aside I do take my health and fitness seriously, I may make the wrong choices or decisions sometimes the important thing with that statement is I am making decisions about me I am in control of me I know my body I know my mind I know what I need to do to make me feel good about myself. I also make a lot of good/brilliant decisions and its easy to forget that we make those decisions.

For the record starting this duathlon was the right decision. Why? I hear you cry when you DNF.

Race day I am confident that I will complete the race I am confident that the 10 days rest has helped and I will get round, if I thought that would not happen I would not have started the race. So the race start's and I have 4.75 miles in front of me we run down towards Eastney I notice after 1 mile I am in last position as the last rider bike Marshall is on my shoulder, this somehow had a calming effect on me and I just concentrate on my running I am feeling good I have no worries, my foot aches a little but that's normal since the orthotics but I am running too a good/fast pace I feel comfortable and relaxed.

I get down to Eastney to the small ramp onto the beech the race director is there as the lead runner Marshall waiting for the front runners to come back as we have a little off road bit to do. I give him the thumbs up let him know I good and have no problems (if only I could change what happened next) I run down the ramp and you pick up a little speed as I reach the bottom and turn left on to the stones (I'm not sure how many steps I took) my ankle twist's and the pain shoots through my foot. BANG that's it I know in my head that it's all over Portsmouth Duathlon Series Race 2.

I don't take quitting as an easy option, injured or not. I make several attempts vain attempts to carry on, you can see at the end of the run in the timing charts the peaks and troughs at the end, that was me giving myself every chance to carry on to try and see if by some miracle I could carry on. Clearly that was not to be I stop trying I hobble back onto the main road where I get picked up and taking back to the start finish area and report to the finisher that I have to pull out and hand over my race tag. A hard thing to do but very important so that the race director knows that everyone is accounted for. Official Race Results

It would be good to mention Nicola Seal the other runner who DNF. Who had a accident and needed transferring to QA Hospital to be checked over. I was able to do my little bit and offer some support whilst waiting for medical aid to arrive. I hope its not to bad and your able to run the next race in 4 weeks time.

It was one of those moments that anything can happen at anytime to anyone, this race had two separate incidents and two DNF's I sure that speaking with Nicola she is just as disappointed as I am that we now cannot complete all 3 races of the series.

That does not mean I was not any less disappointed frustrated and annoyed and feeling sorry with myself. Twisting your ankle (we have all done it even just walking along the road) can just happen, as much as I spent most of yesterday feeling like a failure like a clumsy useless idiot I needed to go through that thought process without blogging the raw emotion and saying things I would regret today. Yes I really do feel the disappointment of yesterday and I will feel it for awhile I have trained like never before to get ready for this event Training Sessions Duathlons are very hard but are now second nature due to the past 6 weeks.

I know that goals are not set in stone and they can be adjusted, setting a goal like completing a 3 race series is pretty much as it says on the tin so not achieving that goal is frustrating finishing 2 out of 3 is not good enough as well done but!!!! This hurts me so much I know it shouldn't but it does, 24 hours of wallowing in despair feeling sorry for myself is enough I need to be positive move on from this and let it go.

I feel it important to write the negative side of how I feel because whilst I try to be a role model and inspire others I am not perfect I am only human it is work in progress and the most important part of that is that it takes as long as it takes. Patience is the key word.

So the positives of the day are that my foot did not give in or break down it was the twisting of the ankle that caused the problem so that means after a few days recovery I should be able to run again the plus side is the next Duathlon is a 3 mile run 14 mile cycle and 3 mile run so I can do plenty of cycling to protect my foot a lot longer. I started the race and feel justified with that decision, it was a racing incident that stopped me.I am not a failure I gave myself every chance to try and finish and I took the correct action by pulling out of the race so my longer term goals can be achieved, that first mile was fast yet still it only got me last place, never before have I been so proud to be in last place.

That is the biggest thing I can pass on is to take the plunge enter a race do whatever is your thing if your last or slow it does not matter taking part is the best thing ever. I will never give up I will always push myself and if being at the back of the field is my place its so much better than being at home on the sofa. Having spent nearly two weeks resting my foot, the sofa is not the place I want to be it has been no fun at all and was a sad reminder of what my life used to be like.

I have quite a few races I wish to run this year I have them all planned out some include days out at a Zoo with a run (No photos of me as Hazel visit's the animals!) I was going to enter them all. This weekend has taught me that until I am fully fit and injury free I need to hold back on entering them until nearer the time as I put myself under pressure to run these events having paid an entrance fee. I am happier not to run in training and rest but come a race day its like I must run it because I have entered it. I will hold back.

I hope this blog makes sense and is written in the right way. Disappointments and setbacks happen all the time in all aspects of our life, I realize that my biggest fear is giving up and reverting back to type of feeling sorry for myself, comfort eating giving up on myself and having no pride in myself.

How STUPID am I this will never happen I will not allow it to happen yet its my biggest fear and something I struggle with all the time. I will reach my goals and I will continue to enjoy the good times and try and make the setbacks not so traumatic. I need to say this.....I did not fail, I did not let myself down, I did not let anyone else down and I did not embarrass myself in any way.  


















  

 

Injured and Frustrated

As you know I have been training hard towards race two of my Duathlon series. My last training session was last week with the incident with that blasted dog! Last Session I have been unable to train since then I am even more annoyed and frustrated with that dog and its owner, I have not coped well and eaten house and home this week so I am also disappointed with myself.

I was so close to having a perfect month training injury free and in the best shape for what will be the toughest Duathlon of the three. I made an appointment to see the podiatrist mine was on leave that week so I saw one of the others he prodded and pushed and found the spot where the pain was he made an adjustment to my orthotics which helped at first but after a half day at work I was back to hobbling again (Not good at all) I need to rest my foot so make the decision to call in sick at work and make another appointment with the podiatrist.

They are fully booked but get me in with my podiatrist during his lunch break again he prods and push's and finds the painful bit and then tells me about what is wrong he then leaves the room to get a second opinion from the other podiatrist so now I have two podiatrist's (I am worried now) deciding on the prognosis and the course of action. It is something to do with my Peroneal I did ask my podiatrist to write down what was wrong, his writing is terrible and I can only make out that word and also he said something to do with CCJ as well? Peroneal-Tendonitis I found this on-line and is as close as I can get.

They agreed to adjust my orthotics again but not to add whatever it was they discussed, I was also told to buy an ankle support to wear during waking hours to help out a little, I needed to wear the orthotics for a few hours so my feet could get used to the adjustments made and then rest my foot again.

My next Duathlon is this Sunday and I will start the race I could not forgive myself for just giving up and not trying, is this stupid? maybe but you have to understand that for 45 years I always took the easy option and just gave up did not bother could not be arsed. That was me and never again will I be like that, my podiatrist did not tell me not to take part but we agreed that I will take care I will not push myself to the point of break down I will COMPROMISE.

I will take walking breaks I will protect my foot I finished 85th out of 90 in the first race if it means I finish last then so be it, taking part is so important to me and if the race director allows me to finish (Time can be a problem) then I will finish with a medal if not I will complete the course safe in the knowledge I did my best. By the way if the worse happened I would pull out of the race but I don't think that will happen.

What I will also do from next week having indulged myself this last 10 days of rest is cycle, I can still cycle as there is no impact on the foot. I hope that this problem will not be long term every time I feel I get close to being injury free something else pops up, what I am most proud of since I started my pods is that before it would be a case of I am not meant to run so I won't and go back to my old ways.

This week has been a blip on the eating front for sure but never do I think I will just give up I am meant to run I just have to change 45 years of abusing my body it won't happen overnight but when it happens watch me go!!!!

I have a saying I keep on my phone "DEAD LAST is greater than DID NOT FINISH which trumps DID NOT START" I will do the right thing if I have to.

And now for something completely different...... I am now a part owner of Portsmouth Football Club. We the fans have our club back.

  










  

Year 3 March

What a busy interesting month March has been with lots of high's and a few low points, when you look over the month I am more than happy and have no regrets at all. In a perfect world I would have lost weight and this would have been great, we all know we don't live in the perfect world and if we did we would not have weight, health, or fitness problems, life is not easy it is challenging and that's the joy of our journey's as we find the route's that best suits our individual needs and adjust accordingly. This month's blog will be in three sections (I hope) Health (injury) Fitness and Weight.

Lets start with my injury and my calf muscles I have mentioned before about my visit to the podiatrist and the Orthotics I now have for both feet, The first thing to report is my feet ache all the time more so after being on my feet all day at work and or after a training session. Now this is a good ache at the moment as my feet ankle's and muscle's adjust to being corrected and its like life's journey we have to work through this in a positive way, as the pain means that I am improving and getting better towards my long term goal of being able to run injury free in the future. I look forward to my next follow up appointment to see how much improvement has been made. How do I know it's getting better?

This is how I know its getting better, Training Report for March and not one injury in all that time and I have only got a little cramp three times the first in the Duathlon race itself and since then I have only done that race distance or further as I train for race two. The first thing I need to say about my training sessions are that you have to divide by three the sessions as each run bike run is recorded individually sadly. The next thing is how tough these sessions are anyway even without the achy feet syndrome with the orthotics (Just to give you an insight today I have no need to go out and I am wearing my slippers, every time I walk or move my feet or just stretching, my feet ache just as much as if I had worn my othotics all day).

The training sessions themselves are fun and enjoyable as well as tough I love that I can now run the whole distances all the time, I know its a 4 mile run 9.6 mile cycle and a 3 mile run but each has its own unique challenge and getting the best out of all three of them is amazing, for the first time ever I am able to run and push myself to my limits without my body breaking down on a regular basis and this just gives me so much confidence and my fitness which I have mentioned before is at a far greater level than it has ever been in the past. I have a link of of a group of 4 training sessions of the first runs (4 miles) Compared 4 Runs each 2 days apart and each one improving culminating in the last run being my best 4 mile run ever with each mile under the 11 min mile pace I have never had a grouping of times so close together and those 4 runs just show what can be achieved when you train regularly and are fit to run as well.

Here is the link to all my activities All Training Logs I am rather proud of what I have achieved recently and I know this is down to a number of things falling into place at the same time I am also aware that whilst I am injury free at the moment, I hope to stay injury free for ever. I have a way to go to see if the othotics are the answer in the long term (I certainly hope so) my watch word PATIENCE comes into play here and I have to make sure I don't get carried away at the moment. One thing I will take away from this training period is that after my last Duathlon race of this series I will keep up a session in the future to break up the just running or cycling training routine, as much as I love running and going out on a long cycle ride doing the Duathlon training whist hard is also fun and that's what training should always be about. ENJOYABLE!!!

Now on to the least successful part of the month (Notice I don't use the word failure) that's because I have not failed. I have just readjusted my focus/goals this month as I cope with my training and the different pressure's it puts on me during the month. As I have stated at the start of the year my focus was on weight loss, it still is what I did not take into account was how tough Duathlon training would be, or how tough the first race would really be either, knowing I have to run an extra 1.75 miles on the next race meant I have to train really harder than I had before the first race.

I have also had a few bad eating days as well and that's something I can do something about? Go back onto my slimpod get myself back on track with with food again, also training so hard has required a little more eating than I had planned for so we have a combination of things as to why no weight loss this month there is no shame no failure in this course of events because at the end of the day I am fitter than I have ever been, I am running better than ever before I am training harder than I had planned to do and my weight lost a tiny amount, thank you very much I will take that as a very successful month, and a lesson learnt on how to adapt one's goals so that I am as successful as I can be for race 2 of the Duathlon.

My weight is 99.6 kg or 15 st 9.5 lbs a loss of just under 1 lbs on last month. I hope everyone has had a great Easter break.