The Gym Bunny's Rocky Road to Awesomeness

[Two-Stroke Tart]

So, I'm out of London After a visit to the sports therapist on Saturday (social rather than toture but she had a look at my knee while I was there) I have been told I need another weeks rest, and there's no guarentee that I'll be able to run after that. So I had a long talk with my running coach and after talking things through with Mr TST, I have decided to withdraw from London and run in 2013 instead. The longer I'm off the more long runs I'm missing and the more fitness I'm loosing. It was always going to be a case of just aiming to finish anyway so I really didn't have any training time I could afford to loose. Withdrawing means I can take the pressure off and aim to get my knee totally sorted properly with rest and rehab exercises.

In the meantime I am allowed to do a bit of swimming using the pull buoy so I don't kick and hopefully when I see the therapist on Thursday she'll give me the go-ahead to do a little run on Saturday.

[TRIumphant]

Chin up, just recover properly, and then come back stronger.

[KidStardust]

really disappointed for you. i know how much this meant to you. sad.

[Kevy427]

I'm quite relieved you're not doing it as that means one less girl to chick me

Bad news TST, but the right decision for the long term. Gives you over a year to get mended and fit enough to complete it. Presumably VLM are carrying your place over for 2013?

[md6]

Really sorry to hear that, especially as it sounded like you had really been making great. But sometimes discretion is the better part of valour and all that...i hope you heal up soon!

[IronMorg]

gutted for you but it was the sensible and right thing to do. You can rock VLM in 2013 fully fit

[CCS]

So sorry to hear that TST... but still, probably best not to risk really breaking yourself.
Imagine how fast you will be by 2013 if you keep up with the rate of improvements!

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Thanks everyone. I'll be there in 2013 and although I'm disappointed not to be there this year I know that it was the right thing to do. I'm trying to take the positives away from all the training I've done so far, like my first run in the snow, and knowing I was making progress means I know I can do it again.

I'm finding it really tough not being able to do anything at the moment, I hadn't realised how reliant I'd become on it for my mental welbeing and how much it was helping me deal with some other stuff I have going on in my life. I've not really been able to go swimming as Mr TST is ill at the moment and is unable to take me and I'm struggling to find any motivation to do my exercises as it all feels rather pointless. I'm trying to be optimistic and hoping to be able to do the Norwich Sport Relief Mile in a couple of weeks, even if I have to walk it, as I really need something on the calendar to stop the downward spiral. I'll find out tonight how things are going and if I am allowed to try a little trott round the block on Saturday morning and I really need to be able to do that more than anything right now.

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Yay!! A couple of little runs in the bag! Went out with Mr TST on Saturday (he was on the bike) just to test the water really and see what would happen. Didn't have a route planned, just played it by ear. Mr TST watched that I wasn't slipping back into old habits with the knee flicking and said I was fine, which was good. Had a lot of niggles but they just seemed to appear and then disappear again so I'm assuming that was just things getting used to me actually running again. Managed a mile before I got a niggle I really didn't like the feel of, so we walked for a bit and then I tried another little run. It was still there so I decided it would be better to walk the rest of the way back. Iced it when we got in just to be safe. Some of my quad muscles were a bit twitchy on Sunday, but apart from that all seemed good. Then did another little run last night and thought I'd try a little interval session. Ran for three minutes and then walked for one, which with hindsight may not have been a long enough walk break! Managed two good sets like that, the third was a struggle and then a minute or so into the fourth set I got some knee pain so stopped as I had been pushing it and didn't want to take any chances. Managed 1.36 miles though before that kicked in so I'm hopeful that I can manage at least a couple of miles as a slow steady run tomorrow. If I can get a couple of miles in the bag then I shall enter for the GEAR 10k on 6 May; I did it last year and it's a lovely race, nice and flat, very scenic even though some if it is through King's Lynn town centre and it's very well supported so seems a good one to do. A friend has said she will do it with me, at my pace and if I need to walk thats fine, so I'm looking forward to it. Feels good to have something back on the calendar again.

Been doing my exercises every morning and am getting into the swing of them now without having to look at the bits of paper all the time! Well, I say all of them, actually it's all of them except two and I need to go through them again with my sports therapist as I don't think I'm doing them properly. Wanted to do a swim tonight, but Mr TST has been signed off work and needs to have a rest from driving for a couple of days so I shall do a little easy session on the turbo and see how things go

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Yay! Got a little bit further yesterday! Managed 2.3 miles in 24 minutes, although pace and HR were rather up and down but I guess that's to be expected. It's faster than I was doing on my long runs though, so happy with that and I didn't really have any issues until the end when I started getting some knee pain. I'm pretty pleased about the overall pace, and having to start again will be a good opportunity to increase my pace overall and really make sure my technique is good.

Had a little swim this morning, using the pull buoy so I didn't need to use my knee as it's a bit achy this morning. Did 750m in a fraction over 22 minutes; it seems to take longer to turn around with the pull buoy so I'm hoping I will have improved my time when I can go back to swimming without it!

Resting tomorrow and then finally going back to gymnastics on Tuesday. Will have to take it easy but at least I can go; I'm missing the social side of not going to things and the gymnastics is good for my stretching. And at least this week I won't be able to overdo it as my sports therapist is coming along too as she used to be a gymnast when she was younger