Day Count: Irrelevant

Probably best that I haven't received a response to my marathon application. Haven't ran in over 2 months now and my shins still niggle when I walk.. A very nice gentleman at work has given me numbers for a number of physios, one used by the olympic team no less...

Watch this space, you be Mozart and I'll be Bach..... Budum tssshhh

Day - Who Cares!!

Guess what....

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Day 78

Finally, I'm back....

The shin splints have finally gone, I'm so happy to be back running again.

I took it really easy today, really steady pace and walked for a minute after every mile. Maybe 4.5 miles was a little too much, but hey...

I'm going to rest now for 2 days and then take another really easy run. Pace is something I'm not going to even think about now, nor will I time myself or I'm just going to push too hard...

Nice steady runs with good break periods.. The shin splints will NOT reappear...

Feels great to be back.....

Day 44

Got my kit on, got 30 seconds down the road before the burning started...

I'm at a complete loss as what to do...

Day 30

Ok, getting close to the time I can hit the streets again, although I still have slight niggles in both legs..

The plan is to reduce my mileage, maybe 2 miles three times a week, and to run on grass for a while so circuits in victoria park might be the order of the day.. Hopefully I'll be back out by the end of this week...

Day 24

I officially hate shin splints... I'm desperate to run, but even walking hurts... Don't know how much longer I'm going to have to rest for this to go away.. Very unhappy...

Day 18

Rest day

Slight pain. When the shin splints first started, my left leg hurt first followed by the right about 3 days later. The left now feels a lot better, and the right slightly less so, hopefully it will follow suit..

Day 17

Yes, I caved... Only slight niggles, the time off and copious ibuprofen consumption seems to have done the trick. Furthermore, I stopped a couple of times to stretch, which really seems to have helped. Also extended my warm up and stretching session, and was sure to warm down and stretch again...

On top of all that, I was in a pretty bad mood, don't know if that helped at all. So, how has this affected things?

Date: 05/05/2009
Start Time: 17:19:00
End Time: 17:34:00
Time Taken: 00:15:00
Route: Work/Home Route
Total Distance: 3.00 mi.
Effort: Normal
Quality: Good
Pace: 05:00 (avg)
Speed: 12 (mi/hr) (avg)

Drastically would be the answer, 5 minute miles :simply amazed..!!

Will rest tomorrow and thursday as well. Will assess friday how the legs are.....

Day 9

Rest day today.. Concerned about my legs... On the plus side....


Dear Andrew James Melling,

Thank you for entering the ballot for the 2010 Virgin London Marathon

We’ll let you know in early October 2009 if you’ve secured a place - you’ll receive a magazine through the post letting you know if you’ve been successful.

The wait is on...

Day 8

Coming on leaps and bounds, it's getting easier every time and my recovery time has drastically increased. I could go even further and faster now, put I'm tugging at the reigns, that and the pain in my legs is getting close to unbearable. I'm thinking it might be my shoes, I've heard of runners going through 10's of pairs trying to find the right ones. Maybe I'm not a neutral runner as I've been told.. Back to the running shop after next payday.....

Date: 27/04/2009
Start Time: 17:28:00
End Time: 17:51:00
Time Taken: 00:23:00
Route: Work/Home Route
Total Distance: 3.00 mi.
Quality: Ok
Pace: 07:40 (avg)
Speed: 7.83 (mi/hr) (avg)

Day 7

Still a little calf soreness, but I think that's all it is as opposed to injury... Beautiful day, went to Greenwich

I've had to change the site I use as there were a few problems with logyourrun, Im now using mapmyrun hence the change in the presentation.

Date: 26/04/2009
Start Time: 17:18:00
End Time: 17:50:00
Time Taken: 00:32:00
Route: 26/04/2009 Route
Total Distance: 4.01 mi.
Effort: Easy
Quality: Ok
Pace: 07:58 (avg)
Speed: 7.52 (mi/hr) (avg)

Day 6

Highly frustrating, calf still sore.. Hope to be fine tomorrow

Day 5

Another rest day, left calf is sore, hopefully will be fine by tomorrow so can run staurday and sunday..

Day 4

Rest day, that's 5 straight days of running, 21.5 miles total... Not a bad start to the programme..

No niggles, just a bit of stiffness and soreness, to be expected I suppose.

Feeling good, full of energy, and when walking places I find myself breaking into a jog....

I've never owned any running shoes before, the comfort level is vastly superior to my skate shoes, and they keep your feet really cool. Me being me, I had to get some that looked kinda flash....

Day 3

Lunch run with colleagues Bel & George, slightly longer than my run home, pace improvement again. Actually felt pretty good, not a strain and recovery was fairly quick... Running with people makes it easier and also brings out my competative side. I'm not about to stop before 2 women, no fear....

Time
30mins

Distance
3.3miles

Pace
9:01 min/mile

Day 10

Well, it's highly frustrating but I must be sensible. Looks like 2 weeks rest is the only course of action I can take. Ibuprofen has helped with the inflammation, just need to continue hot & cold treatment...

Next update 06/05/09

Day 2

Legs didn't feel good today, tried to pace myself much more, started too quickly yesterday and burned myself out ... Seems to have worked, shaved a whole 6 minutes off yesterdays plod.. Think it's time for a rest day, that's 4 days straight running, 18.2 miles total..

Time
29mins

Distance
2.9miles

Pace
9:52 min/mile

Day 1

Run home from work... 2.9 miles... Distance measured on logyourrun.com where you can trace routes onto googlemaps

Not a good pace at all, it was hot what can I say..... In fact it's terrible, must have been tired after doing 12 miles over the weekend..

Time
35:00

Distance
2.9miles

Pace
11:54 min/mile

I'm a long legged man......

About 25+ pints , 40 cigarettes and a full english a couple of times a week, white bread & butter fried bacon sarnies and so on....... You get the picture..

Thankfully I'm blessed with an extremely high metabolism (yes my female friends hate me), but don't let the lean stature fool you. I'm a fat-thin person and extremely unfit...

I started running about a month ago, and after a couple of sessions quickly stopped again. I've now re-started in earnest and will record my progress here, purely for self-motivation, though a certain friend will probably enjoy the graphs and charts...

I've bought my running shoes, shirt & shorts, and after a couple of lazyish plods over the weekend, it's time to get serious..