Sports & Fitness Anybody competing ?

Don't rush back to running with the calf injury. Grade II tears can take 6 weeks to heal.

I'm just recovering from calf tear. Put me out of action for 6 weeks, and it's taken another 8 weeks just to build up some fitness again.

 

Oh man, that sucks. I'm hoping mine was just a very low grade/pulled muscle rather than an out and out tear. I never got any swelling or bruising and no real pain as such, just a twinge for a couple of days with each footstep, barely enough to cause a limp. It'll be a full 3 weeks by the time I try running again and I've had no twinges for a few days (although weirdly it did ache a little yesterday). Did a very easy spin session last night and it pulled up fine. Hurting my back and getting a cold has probably been a blessing as it forced me off the running anyway. I'll gingerly start up again on Monday (which will be the full 3 weeks) and see how I go. Hope yours is fully recovered now @mrdobalina how did you do it?

 

Wow @Propagate , seems like you're having some tough times. Hope it gets better soon but as the others said, don't rush it as it will only get worse.
The flu and the hip/back aches are most probably your body not coping with the amount of exercise your are doing so keep that in mind when you are back to it and give your body time to adapt as per Ace's advice. Running puts a lot of stress on your body(much more than cycling) and your immune system will struggle at it especially in winter when we are most likely to get sick.

I had to miss on one run in the past month due to a minor sprained ankle. It gets a lot harder running after work in winter when it's dark,slippery, cold and wet. I misjudged the depth of a puddle of water as it was raining during my run and landed awkwardly on my right foot but managed to save it pretty quickly... A bit of pain and very little bruising but that's about it.

 

I pulled my calf doing a tempo run on the treadmill. It took about 6 weeks to recover, with strengthening exercises every second day in the gym (I.e. a lot of calf raises). I've been back to running for 8 weeks now, but still only at 70% volume and with the foot strapped with tape.

 

@paulF Cheers, felt a bit silly posting it to be honest, it's not the end of the world by any means. A sore back and calf I can live with when many out there have actual real problems to deal with! I was just going nuts not being able to get out and do anything. I think I'm coming through the other side, now, off to the Osteopath this morning. Actually had a few meters of painless walk late last night so must be on the mend.

@mrdobalina bugger, that's a long time to be laid off. Do you have full confidence in the calf again now and just building back up your volume?

I picked up some Skins compression tights ready for when I start again, hopefully that'll help the calf a little bit. Not sure if they actually work but they'll keep my legs warm running through winter if nothing else ;-)

 

No professional competition, but myself and a bloke at work are doing a 200 push-up-a-day challenge.
He doesn't goto the gym like I do, so I have some fatigue to contend with.
I'm being honest and not fudging the push-ups.

 

yes im having a amateur boxing match soon

 

Hehe, I'm concerned that our classes will eventually get canned, as it's becoming clear to me that those that have some semblance of fitness enjoy it & keep coming back, but those that it should be targeting come to a few sessions & don't return.

 

Or have two groups. One for the ones that like what he's doing now....and another for the less fit, focussing on mobility issues.

 

Let us know how it goes showtime.I'm also involved in the boxing game and coach a main event pro named Anthony McCracken.He has had two years off with a detached retina and we are currently looking for fights for him.It's a great game and I hope you keep your interest in it.All the best.Terry.

 

5 weeks later, still injury free
Tested 100m sprint today with block start - 12.07 with no reaction time, so maybe 12.25.
Used electronic timing gates.
This is a decent improvement over my time from 5 weeks ago.
Wasn't a smooth run and felt like I was going to trip a few times down the straight.
Also tested a 30m fly time and got 3.20s, which was a huge improvement over my time of 3.56 from 5 weeks ago.
Happy with that but know I can go faster.
Need to get my start right because calculators project my 100m time based on 30m fly should be about 11.7s.

 

So, after almost 5 week s lay off due to a the herniated disc I managed to start "running" again a week or so back. I use the term loosely as I'm still pretty slow, but working on it and enjoying it.

It wasn't pretty, a couple of short 2-3 minute light jogs before pulling the pin as walking was OK but the impact pain of running on the disc was a no-go.

The following week, a 7k slow jog with slight back pain from the disc, a few days later a 9k with less pain then an almost pain free 10k late last week. Had a few days off then drove out to Cape Shanck yesterday and ticked off a bucket list item.

Might seem a trivial bucket list run to you guys that can really, properly run, but in 2012 my folks came to visit and I took them to walk a little bit of the Bushrangers Bay track from Cape Schank. Stunning spot and for some reason I had a real urge to run it one day. I think in part as I like covering the ground quickly, and as its walking only track, I cant hit it on the mountain bike.

Being a none runner though, I never thought I'd ever do it.

Seeing as it was a nice day yesterday and I now have some k's under my belt, I grabbed my mate (who runs a fair bit), and we parked up at Cape Schank and ran to Boneo Rd and back. 11k and about 250m vertical, including the detour down to Bushrangers Bay beach.

Man, I enjoyed every second of it. Back was a little sore by the end bit it felt good to be out and I felt like I was running well. Hoping this is the beginning of some proper mileage and some excellent trail running adventures to come! I was done by the end. Engine was still good but no strength left in the legs by the time we got back to the car. Calf was great, no issues.

I walked up the last few up hills and jogged the flats. I love opening it up on the downs, again, probably due to my MTB back ground I found I could really let go and trust my feet rather than gingerly pick my way down. Must have looked like fun to the walkers as I blasted passed!

In other news, the Yoga place close to work opened last week and so far I've been twice and booked the same two classes for this week. I got a lot out of it and I think it will really help my running training, riding and general flexibility and well being. I really REALLY enjoyed it, far more than I thought I would, (and I thought I would).

Here's a few happy snaps in the Victorian winter sun from yesterday trail run, complete with my "Catalogue Pose" down at Bushrangers Bay beach.... ;-)

Hope everyone else is enjoying their training? I'm not getting much work done, too busy Googling cool places to go run trails that aren't too far form home.

EDITED to add - whilst I was laid up and couldn't do too much I figured the only thing I could do was properly watch my diet, so I dropped the booze, the sugars and calorie counted everything using MyFitnessPal.I stuck to 2000 calories per day and in 4 weeks I've gone from 84kg to 79kg and that has made a huge difference to how the running felt. At almost 6'2 that's about as low as I want to go. I'm aiming to stabilize at 78 the increase my intake as my training increases and swap the bits of wobbilly bits that are left into muscle, get the fat % down a bit more. That's the lowest I have weighed since my teens I'd say, and I'm now 41. I peaked at close to 100kg in my late 20's and have hovered around 90 through most of my 30's, even with a LOT of cycling but never properly watched my diet.

 

Good job.
Losing excess weight is going to help your running so much.
Faster/easier running with reduction in injuries.

 

Not much progress here because I don't think I've been training appropriately for maximum speed.
Too much sub-maximal work and not enough pure intensity flat out stuff.
Also, have not been training for absolute strength, so I just changed my approach.
First and foremost is improving strength to weight ratio and plan to drop from 79kg to 75kg by the end of the year.
Will probably have to lose some muscle mass as I'm only 8% body fat right now, but a loss in muscle mass does not have to mean a loss in strength if an appropriate low rep/high intensity non-hypertrophic training program and diet is followed.
Plan to gain significant strength, focusing primarily on the deadlift with bench press secondary.
Will do 2 x intense short rep sprint sessions per week to get my fly times down to 10m/s, that's the goal anyway.

 

Finally entered into my first race in the first week of January 2018.
It's a family friendly meet in Dubbo, so my 9yo daughter will compete with me, this is more for her than me.
It's a good chance for a short family holiday too.

The last time I ran a race was 25 years ago in high school and I came last of 9 competitors in the 100m final.
I'd love to race those guys again today...

I'm happy that I'm completely injury free and feeling good, but not getting much faster unfortunately.
I was hand timed at 11.8s for 100m and 7.35s for 60m this morning.
I really want to break 12.0s for the 100m with a genuine electronic time.

Was a bit late for this season, but will look to compete well and improve a lot for next season.

 

Ran a 200m sprint today.
The weather is ridiculous but, Man’s not hot.
I got a FAT of 24.14s.
The last time I ran a 200m race back in high school 25 years ago it was about 27.5s hand timed.

Also long jumped for fun with no training.
5.52m today vs 5.33m 25 years ago.

Better with age...

 

I shoot clay targets and ISSF Pistol at club level. It's a great social sport where age and gender doesn't limit competition. Whole family comes along.