4.2 miles slow

Went for another run with Natasha round Stromovka, this time extended to the Planetarium on one side and to the tennis club on the other. Wore the Newton Distance S again. Shin was causing a few minor problems but was much better than I would have expected for two consecutive days of running, for the first time since early March. I had been getting in a quick calf stretch every time we were on an escalator in the metro, which might have helped. Finished the 4.15 miles in 35:45 for a 8:36/mile average.

Weekly total: 11 miles

3.2 miles slow

Took my running gear to Prague in the hope of getting a few miles in, not least because I had deliberately chosen a hotel near a couple of parks, and went out with Natasha on Saturday morning for a run around Stromovka. We followed the main path down the hill, turning right at the bottom, and ran round the main loop with a minor detour for a smaller loop on the other side of the railway tunnel. The climb back up the main path went on a bit, but the road up to the hotel was much harder work. Shin was niggling me a bit. Finished the 3.17 miles in 27:27, 8:40/mile average.

3.3 miles slow

Tried to get a few more slow miles in on Tuesday evening. There was a small group of London marathon participants running some easy reps in the business park across Maryhill Road from Garscube Estate, so I joined in for a few of them. Distance including warm-up and warm-down came out at 3.28 miles, time 25 minutes.

5 miles easy

The injury was gradually improving due to a combination of rest, ice and stretching, and I was able to support myself on my right ankle without any problems, so I decided to try a few miles on Sunday afternoon. I was going to run my usual West End route but it was going OK so I headed onto the canal at the fire station, down to Kelvindale and back via Dorchester Avenue and Great Western Road. Wore the death boots for extra stability but I think I would go with the Newton Distance S next time. The shin was still nagging me a bit, and I started to struggle from lack of fitness after about 3 miles. Finished the 5.41 miles in 39:46, average pace 7:21/mile, HR 158. Might be able to run again after a couple more days' rest.

Pace splits (ave. HR): 7:40 (145), 7:12 (159), 7:15 (155), 7:24 (161), 7:14 (164), 7:23 (169)
HR zones: 1.3%, 2.5%, 52.9%, 43.3%, 0%
Weekly total: 5 miles

National Road Relay Championships

By Saturday morning I had improved enough to take part in the relays at Livingston, although if the race hadn't been on I would have waited at least another day before trying to run again. Other assorted injuries meant I was on the first leg. This would have been fine if I had been able to train properly for the past few weeks, but I knew that sooner or later I would fall behind the group I would normally have considered my rivals. Opted for the Newton Motus as a decent compromise between speed and injury protection, as recently it had seemed easier to run in the Newton Distance S than the adiZero Tempo. I couldn't risk a warm-up but as soon as the race started I felt not too bad and was pretty sure of making it round OK. The pack in front of me started to stretch away within the first mile, and I started to find every hill a lot harder than it should have been. The last mile was really hard work and I felt very slow, but I was still holding my position in the field and only moving up or down a place very occasionally. I lost a place in the finishing straight due to being unable to sprint, and handed over to Ben in 26th place with about a dozen runners less than a minute ahead of me.

I had predicted a time of 18:something, so 17:55 wasn't too bad, and was our fastest short leg of the day. It also wasn't too far down on previous years, although I have evidently lost quite a bit of fitness - won't bother entering the Polaroids unless I can resume proper training very soon. The diversion in the last mile made the course look as if it was going to be shorter, although after measuring it with gmap-pedometer there didn't seem to be much difference after all. Using GPS, it came out at 3.07 miles, giving me a 5:50/mile average. Ben made up a load of places to bring us up to 9th, and Joe on the fourth leg took us into 7th before we finished 9th, equalling our best performance from 2 years ago.

Pace splits: 5:41, 5:59, 5:54
Weekly total: 10 miles

7 miles hard

I felt just about able to run again on Tuesday evening, which indicated a faster recovery from Sunday afternoon than I had expected, but I decided a single run on Wednesday would be safer than runs on Tuesday and Thursday and spent about half an hour on the exercise bike at home instead. I wasn't significantly better by Wednesday but thought I would tackle my usual 7-mile route via Garscube Estate. I went for the Newton Distance S again as they seem a bit safer than my other shoes at the moment, although I noticed the heels were a bit scuffed.

I hobbled through the first hundred metres or so before the pain started to wear off, leaving a familiar dull ache on the inside of my right shin. Got through the first mile in a reasonable 6:24, feeling decidedly nauseous. HR was also on the high side, but I felt OK otherwise and pressed on. I crossed the Kelvin comfortably inside 20 minutes which suggested a route PB was on the cards, but this seemed like a bad idea so I tried to ease off a bit instead. Finally started to feel a bit better near the 5-mile mark, and my average mile pace was still hovering around 6:20 so it looked like I would manage sub-45 for the route for the first time in ages, in spite of the constant dull pain which made me feel like I was limping. I had some good luck with the traffic in the last mile and got back home in 43:59 for the 6.95 miles, average pace 6:19/mile, HR 172. This turned out to be only about 20 seconds outside my route PB. Also set a new maximum HR of 183 although I didn't feel like I'd been pushing myself excessively. Lower leg tightened up soon afterwards.

Pace splits (ave. HR): 6:24 (155), 6:20 (171), 6:06 (174), 6:33 (174), 6:20 (172), 6:19 (177), 6:15 (178)
HR zones: 0.6%, 1.1%, 4.8%, 89.9%, 3.5%

5.8 miles hard

After Thursday I had been trying some ankle mobility exercises and shin taping, with varying degrees of success, and on Saturday afternoon I spent about an hour on the exercise bike at home. By Sunday afternoon I felt able to try another few miles, this time in the Newton Distance S. The outside of my right shin was playing up for the first few hundred metres but it soon settled down, leaving me with just a mild, dull pain on the inside of the shin. I wanted to get onto the canal as early as possible for softer underfoot conditions so I headed up Baird's Brae. As soon as I got onto the towpath I found myself battling a strong headwind. My splits looked quite reasonable but I seemed to be putting in a lot of effort, most likely due to the wind as well as loss of fitness. I turned round when I got to Lambhill Bridge and took a slightly shorter route home, coming off the canal at the fire station. Got back home in 36:16 for the 5.82 miles, average pace 6:14/mile, HR 172. I apparently managed to get my heart rate briefly into zone 5 when the wind seemed to be at its strongest on the canal, so the reading is most likely correct.

Pace splits (ave. HR): 6:39 (165), 6:06 (172), 6:04 (173), 6:16 (174), 6:16 (175), 5.59 (175)
HR zones: 0.6%, 0.3%, 0.6%, 98.1%, 0.5%
Weekly total: 10 miles

4.6 miles tempo

Didn't quite feel up to training with the club but I thought I would give it a try, relying on Tiger Balm and the adiZero Tempo to get me through it. The route was either 6 or 9 miles, intended to be run at a fairly steady pace. I still had some lower leg pain but survived the first mile OK, along Maryhill Road and down Cowal Road, although I had some doubts as to whether I'd manage the full 9. After Cleveden Road, with the pace increasing, we were supposed to cross Great Western Road and head up Anniesland Road towards Knightswood, but I got slowed down on the central reservation and ended up at the back of the pack as we approached Anniesland Station on about 3 miles. The effort it would have taken to return to the front was fairly daunting on account of the ongoing mild leg pain, and it occurred to me that I would probably have to maintain that for the rest of the run, so I took the opportunity to bail out and head back up Crow Road. Distance was 4.59 miles, time 31:45 for a 6:55/mile average, HR 158. My right instep was sore as I drove home but undoing the laces helped a bit.

Pace splits (ave. HR): 7:16 (146), 7:05 (160), 6:23 (162), 7:08 (162), 6:33 (162)
HR zones: 1.2%, 2.9%, 49.4%, 46.5%, 0%

Gym

Went to the gym where I used the cross-trainer and exercise bike for about 45 minutes.

6.1 miles tempo

Although not 100% I thought I would try to get into double figures for the week with a run along the canal. Wore the Newton Distance S. Shin pain was a minor nuisance and I felt quite slow but my mile splits looked not too bad from the second mile onwards. I turned around after about 3 miles, near Possil Marsh, and finished the 6.07 miles in 39:07 for a 6:26/mile average, HR 160. Lower leg stiffened up a bit afterwards but I may be OK to run again by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Pace splits (ave. HR): 7:01 (148), 6:30 (157), 6:25 (158), 6:23 (163), 6:19 (166), 6:04 (168)
HR zones: 1.0%, 1.6%, 49.4%, 48.0%, 0%
Weekly total: 10 miles

Gym

I might have been able to do the Clydesdale 5K, but it would have set me back a few more days, so I decided against it and went to the gym instead. Spent 45 minutes on the cross-trainer and the exercise bike.

3.8 miles tempo

After a few days of stretching and icing I decided I had probably recovered enough to try a few miles, down Garscube Road, over the footbridge and up the steps to the canal, then along the towpath to Shakespeare Street and back down Maryhill Road. Went out in the adiZero Tempo as they seemed to be the most trustworthy of my shoes. I could feel a little tightness in the lower leg which didn't go away, but it wasn't too much of a problem. My second mile was faster than I had intended and I made a few attempts to ease off so I didn't end up overdoing it in order to get my average pace into the "hard run" bracket of sub-6:25. Finished the 3.82 miles in 24:44, average pace 6:28/mile, HR 157. My right calf was inevitably worse later on, but still better than it was last week.

Pace splits (ave. HR): 7:04 (141), 6:15 (162), 6:15 (164), 6:17 (164)
HR zones: 2.4%, 10.1%, 24.0%, 63.5%, 0%

2.5 miles slow

Felt a bit better so I went out with Natasha before breakfast as far as Kelvinbridge, before continuing along Great Western Road and up Queen Margaret Drive, mainly just to test my injury. Ran in the death boots for added stability and cushioning. It was probably better than Wednesday evening's run but I hadn't recovered enough to try running on it again later on. Just like the previous Saturday morning run with Natasha, I had some unusually high HR readings, this time until I was halfway up Queen Margaret Drive, although I had no other symptoms at all. If I'd noticed the HR reading at the time, I would have checked my pulse. Got back home in 20:36 for the 2.49 miles, average pace 8:15/mile, HR 149. I was still mostly in HR zone 4 and even 5 (briefly) for a mile after Natasha had headed down South Woodside Road to meet Meggan, so it can't be interference from anything she's wearing. I suspect a problem with the chest strap (poor contacts or weak battery).

Pace splits (ave. HR): 8:44 (159), 8:00 (142), 7:50 (141)
HR zones: 1.1%, 32.0%, 40.8%, 24.9%, 1.1%
Weekly total: 19 miles

Gym

I was able to get a physio appointment at fairly short notice on Thursday, and the diagnosis was medial tibial stress syndrome (the typical cause of shin splints). There was also a large knot in my right calf which was most likely the root of the problem. My IT bands were a lot better so rolling them out with a wooden massage roller seems to be helping. After so many weeks of high mileage I could certainly afford a few days off running altogether, so after some calf stretching on Thursday and Friday I went to the gym on Saturday afternoon, where I spent about 45 minutes on the cross-trainer and exercise bike. I had a go on the treadmill for a few minutes but it wasn't much better than trying to run on the road.