Post 5 - Consistency and injuries

Consistency is the absolute key to this. Work, train, eat, sleep, repeat. For the next 6 months. If I can do this, without interruption, I can achieve my goal. Consistency is the key to anything. No matter what you are trying to achieve, whether it’s learning a language, running a marathon, studying for an exam, or trying to qualify for Kona, consistency of training or practice for a prolonged period of time is fundamental. Dedication, perseverance and a willingness to put the work in can see great things being achieved. I have no doubt I can put the work in. However, illness and injury can hamper consistency, as can a lack of stability. Stability is the foundation to consistency. You wouldn’t study for an MBA exam while backpacking around the world, and similarly for high-level Ironman training, you need to be fairly stable in terms of location and hours you can commit.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that in the months to come, my work and personal situation will be stable enough to permit that consistency. To a certain extent, this is beyond my control, but all I can do is to control the controllables and hope for the best. I am keeping my fingers crossed that illness or injury won’t hamper my consistency either. To avoid illness I’m making sure to eat and drink well, and taking nutrition supplements. Ironman training stresses the immune system and can leave people more susceptible to picking up colds, coughs and flus, all of which detract from consistency. I’m sure I will blog about diet at a later date. The final issue to contend with is injury. Athletes are forever picking up niggles and injuries, and good management of these is essential to ensure that consistency is maintained. In this part of my blog, I am going to write a bit about injuries.

In my competitive running days, I seemed to be forever getting injured. On club runs, many people commented on how hard I seemed to strike the ground with my feet, and running 5:30/mile for over an hour, while hammering the ground as hard as I did, was always going to take its toll. Also, back in my early 20s, I didn’t appreciate the benefits of rest, recovery and easy days. I’ve since learned that not all training days need to be hard. I became more sensible in my training and came to realise the benefits of easy days. I also changed my running stride to stop hitting heel first, and began to run more on my toes. The following video is interesting:

His heels never actually hit the ground, and his foot strikes the ground right underneath his hip, meaning he is not subjecting his body and his knees to braking shocks associated with a footstrike out in front of the hip. For running an Ironman marathon, it’s important to run as “lightly” as possible, as the legs will be tired after the 112 mile cycle. 2 hours into the run, there will be big gains to be made in terms of fatigue levels if effort has been made to run “lightly”, keeping vertical movement to a minimum, and minimising the loadings going through the legs.

From my own point of view, I don’t need to train to be able to run a 10K in 32 minutes, as this will take too much of a toll on my body and carry with it too much of an injury risk. I just need to be able to cruise along at between 7 minutes and 7:30 per mile, for 3 hours. Training to do this is very different from any running training I have done in the past. Last year I wasn’t very good at accepting that I don’t need to be able to train for and run a 32 minute 10K in order to do an Ironman marathon.

What I do need to do is train to run “lightly” for a long time, and make sure that any running training I do takes a minimal toll on my legs, joints and muscles. I need to keep the bigger picture in mind, and in the lead-up to Ironman in the summer, I need to forget about any fast, high-intensity running. High-intensity work will be done in the pool and on the bike, and cycling fitness will transfer well to running.

I believe that my own running style is not ideally suited to covering marathon distances. Look at the following picture from Greencastle, and look in particular at the angle my right foot makes with the ground – far from flat.

Admittedly this is at the finish line, so the combination of a sprint finish, running downhill and veering to the left as I did, all exaggerate the effect. Nevertheless, I am obviously striking on the outside of my foot first of all, and then everything collapses in. This takes its toll on feet, ankles, knees and hips. Over a 10K race I seem get away with this, but my performances in longer runs seem to diminish, I believe at least in part due to having a less-than-ideal gait.

This is further illustrated by the following two photographs. I run in Brooks Adrenaline shoes. The shoe on the left is an old shoe that has done about 500 miles, and the shoe on the right is a new shoe. Notice that the greatest area of wear is not the heel area, but the outside of the forefoot. There is almost no wear on the inside of the shoe.

The picture below shows the blue cushioning completely worn away on the outside of the old shoe (bottom), when compared with the new shoe (top). Looking at these images, it’s no wonder I got such a bad blister when running at Greencastle, right where the wear on the shoe is worst.

So this is something I will need to be mindful of. I’ll need to make sure I am always running in shoes that aren’t worn out, and the more runs I can do on grass, the better. I’ll try to run lightly and not beat myself up if my outright speed decreases – the goal is to cruise at 7 minute miles for 3 hours, not to blast 5:30/mile for an hour or less. I’ve been looking at trying out a pair of “on” running shoes, which have lugs rather than soles, as shown below – the more cushioning I can have, the better.

"On running" shoes - I'm interested to try them

Training this week was as follows:

Monday 13^th January: 30 min hard run
Tuesday 14^th January: Rest
Wednesday 15^th January: 90 minute turbo: 2mins easy, 2 mins hard, x 20
Thursday 16^th January: Swim 3.3k with pull buoy and ankle band drills
Friday 17^th January: 30 minute fartlek run
Saturday 18^th January: 2 hour turbo with 90 minutes hard, 30 minute run
Sunday 19^th January: Swim 3.3k with hand paddles drills

Totals: Swim 6.6k, bike 77 miles, run 14 miles

This is the end of my first block of training. I’ve done two weeks and now I will take an easy recovery week. I’m fairly pleased with how it has gone, although the last 30-40 minutes of Saturday’s bike were really tough. It was an intense turbo session in the garage, and my energy levels dropped dramatically after about 70-75 minutes due to not having any nutrition while on the bike. However, I got through it and was still able to maintain decent intensity, but it took a lot out of me. The 30-minute run that followed was a pitiful effort. I was quite literally running on empty, and after I finished I wasn’t able to do much else with the day as I was so fatigued. A lesson to learn from this is that doing anything longer than 70 minutes requires proper nutrition and hydration while doing it – this means taking energy bars, gels, and electrolyte drinks from the start.

One thing that worries me slightly is that the pain in the arch of my left foot still hasn’t gone away. It hasn’t stopped me doing anything, but it is there and if anything, it is worse when I walk than when I run. I’m hoping that the easy week to come will fix this, and I am also going to stop running in my worn-out shoes and switch to the new pair, so hopefully this problem will be fine.

Another worry is that I woke up yesterday morning with a painful lower back, for no reason. I speculate that maybe I slept funny on it, or that my mattress is worn out. The bed in my room in my house-share has a stupid, stupid foot rail across the bottom, and I am over 6 feet tall, so the only way I fit in the bed is to sleep diagonally in the same position every night, and I think that sleeping in the same position over 6 months has worn out the mattress along its diagonal. This sore back hasn’t stopped me training but it has got worse over the weekend. It’s now very sore, and it’s not something that’s ever happened to me before. So I will take some painkillers tonight, and see if the easier week to come will help it to ease. Although in saying that, before the easy week starts, I would like to do one more tough run tomorrow to finish off my two tough weeks. But I may decide tomorrow to just leave it and not run, depending on how I feel.

So from a fitness point of view I am reasonably happy with how the past two weeks have gone, and I think I’m in a better position than I was this time last year. From a lower back point of view and a left foot arch point of view I am less happy. For now I will hope for the best, see how they go over the coming easier days, and if they don’t improve then I’ll have to see a physio...