Well it’s been a busy time in the Jones household so I apologise for the slow update of the blog recently.
The marathon training has finally started to ramp following a series of set backs for both of us.
Liz has been suffering from sore knees which become quite painful after only a few miles. After trying rest and anti-inflammatories she visited a specialist who has told her to stretch various muscles. After a few weeks of stretching things seem to have improved a little but it’s still painful on longer runs.
I’ve had a recurring calf muscle strain which restricted me to one session a week for 6 weeks which was not ideal. I think this came about from focusing on stretching that calf muscle as directed by the Podiatrist.
However, as I have now found out, all that was in vain because my sore foot arch was being caused by nothing more than badly fitting shoes! I had them originally fitted by a specialist running shop with video analysis and also took them with me to the Podiatrist (who never looked at them on me).
So after 6 weeks of stretching but not really getting any better I decided to stick
2 pairs of inners into my shoes in a desperate attempt to rid myself of the a pains. I got approximately half a mile before my leg went completely dead from the pain. So I removed the second inner and re-fitted the now loose shoe – instant relief, no pain at all!
So the next day I undid my trainers and ran with them as loose as possible and again, no pain!
Now I know I should be happy to have cured this problem but I can’t help being just a tad p*ssed off with the so called experts who simply failed to spot such a basic mistake. I work in computers and the first thing we do when responding to a fault call is ask if they’ve turned the PC on, this lot had jumped straight to page 10 of the fault manual!
So to celebrate I’ve purchased a new pair of shoes from Newton, they’re supposed to promote a more forward footfall which in turn prevents stress on the ankles, knees etc. and so far they seem very good. Liz is thinking about getting a pair if her stretching doesn’t work out.
A typical week for us is 3 lots of 5-6 mile interval type runs during the week with a 10-12 miler on a Sunday. Every other week we put a sprint session in to replace one of the 6 mile runs. I think we’re both seeing real improvements although neither of us is confident of lasting the full distance at the pace needed to dip under 4 hours.
To really mix things up myself and my two step brothers, Pete and Andy, undertook a bit of a Bandit Paddle over a recent weekend, all 40 miles of it!
Buying inflatable canoes off ebay may not sound the best idea but these were beauties and had plenty of space for us to store all our kit, including a 3 man tent!
Liz dropped us off at the River Rother in Midhurst and we had a wonderful time wending our way down this beautiful if un-kept river picking up floating polo balls from the Cowdray Park estate. We had a mixed reaction from the small number of fishermen we met on the way, some were perfectly pleasant but a couple got quite abusive and muttered about our trip being illegal. Now I had looked into this and simply put, the law is unclear with regard to recreational activities so we put our heads down and carried on.
By the evening we had been on the go for 8 hours and were feeling the strain although pitching on down through several weirs we encountered had made it a memorable d
ay despite the now persistent rainfall.
We found a likely spot to set up camp for the night and trundled off to a local pub for something warm and plenty of alcohol to wash it down. Liz made a welcome appearance and it was with some regret that we all said goodbye as she headed off to a nice warm dry bed whilst we trudged wearily through sodden fields to our tent.
The next day dawned grey and wet and we set off this time up the River Arun to cover the remaining 20 miles by early afternoon. Fairly quickly the sun came out and with the tide on our side we made good progress despite my inflatable canoe suffering a puncture which required a mid river pump up every 20 mins. After a mere 6 hours we arrived at Arundel and slipped and slid up the cloyingly muddy river bank, dragging the canoes with us and into the back of BA ( our van, so called cos it’s hard as nails) and off to a scrumptious roast that Liz had cooked.
All in all, great fun and really good endurance training as well as being something we wouldn’t usually do.
Car racing has been going OK although my lack of focus on it has been showing. The race at Brands Hatch was great fun with Liz coming along for the first time as well as Roger and Sarah our neighbours and parents to Josh and Sean who are the Custard Tart Racing’s official pit crew.
The weather for qualifying was extremely wet and surprisingly I managed to bag 4th on the grid for both races. Good starts are becoming a speciality and after briefly taking 2nd place on the opening lap I settled into 3rd place until a couple of missed gear changes saw me drop to fifth at the flag but still my best result so far. Unfortunately race 2 had me on the wrong tyre pressures and again after sneaking up to 2nd I dropped back through the pack to a disappointing 8th.
If I’d got my act together and done the test day I really think a podium was there for the taking and so now it’s on to Castle Combe for the next two rounds.
The marathon training has finally started to ramp following a series of set backs for both of us.
Liz has been suffering from sore knees which become quite painful after only a few miles. After trying rest and anti-inflammatories she visited a specialist who has told her to stretch various muscles. After a few weeks of stretching things seem to have improved a little but it’s still painful on longer runs.
I’ve had a recurring calf muscle strain which restricted me to one session a week for 6 weeks which was not ideal. I think this came about from focusing on stretching that calf muscle as directed by the Podiatrist.
However, as I have now found out, all that was in vain because my sore foot arch was being caused by nothing more than badly fitting shoes! I had them originally fitted by a specialist running shop with video analysis and also took them with me to the Podiatrist (who never looked at them on me).
So after 6 weeks of stretching but not really getting any better I decided to stick
2 pairs of inners into my shoes in a desperate attempt to rid myself of the a pains. I got approximately half a mile before my leg went completely dead from the pain. So I removed the second inner and re-fitted the now loose shoe – instant relief, no pain at all!So the next day I undid my trainers and ran with them as loose as possible and again, no pain!
Now I know I should be happy to have cured this problem but I can’t help being just a tad p*ssed off with the so called experts who simply failed to spot such a basic mistake. I work in computers and the first thing we do when responding to a fault call is ask if they’ve turned the PC on, this lot had jumped straight to page 10 of the fault manual!
So to celebrate I’ve purchased a new pair of shoes from Newton, they’re supposed to promote a more forward footfall which in turn prevents stress on the ankles, knees etc. and so far they seem very good. Liz is thinking about getting a pair if her stretching doesn’t work out.
A typical week for us is 3 lots of 5-6 mile interval type runs during the week with a 10-12 miler on a Sunday. Every other week we put a sprint session in to replace one of the 6 mile runs. I think we’re both seeing real improvements although neither of us is confident of lasting the full distance at the pace needed to dip under 4 hours.
To really mix things up myself and my two step brothers, Pete and Andy, undertook a bit of a Bandit Paddle over a recent weekend, all 40 miles of it!
Buying inflatable canoes off ebay may not sound the best idea but these were beauties and had plenty of space for us to store all our kit, including a 3 man tent!
Liz dropped us off at the River Rother in Midhurst and we had a wonderful time wending our way down this beautiful if un-kept river picking up floating polo balls from the Cowdray Park estate. We had a mixed reaction from the small number of fishermen we met on the way, some were perfectly pleasant but a couple got quite abusive and muttered about our trip being illegal. Now I had looked into this and simply put, the law is unclear with regard to recreational activities so we put our heads down and carried on.
By the evening we had been on the go for 8 hours and were feeling the strain although pitching on down through several weirs we encountered had made it a memorable d
ay despite the now persistent rainfall.We found a likely spot to set up camp for the night and trundled off to a local pub for something warm and plenty of alcohol to wash it down. Liz made a welcome appearance and it was with some regret that we all said goodbye as she headed off to a nice warm dry bed whilst we trudged wearily through sodden fields to our tent.
The next day dawned grey and wet and we set off this time up the River Arun to cover the remaining 20 miles by early afternoon. Fairly quickly the sun came out and with the tide on our side we made good progress despite my inflatable canoe suffering a puncture which required a mid river pump up every 20 mins. After a mere 6 hours we arrived at Arundel and slipped and slid up the cloyingly muddy river bank, dragging the canoes with us and into the back of BA ( our van, so called cos it’s hard as nails) and off to a scrumptious roast that Liz had cooked.
All in all, great fun and really good endurance training as well as being something we wouldn’t usually do.
Car racing has been going OK although my lack of focus on it has been showing. The race at Brands Hatch was great fun with Liz coming along for the first time as well as Roger and Sarah our neighbours and parents to Josh and Sean who are the Custard Tart Racing’s official pit crew.
The weather for qualifying was extremely wet and surprisingly I managed to bag 4th on the grid for both races. Good starts are becoming a speciality and after briefly taking 2nd place on the opening lap I settled into 3rd place until a couple of missed gear changes saw me drop to fifth at the flag but still my best result so far. Unfortunately race 2 had me on the wrong tyre pressures and again after sneaking up to 2nd I dropped back through the pack to a disappointing 8th.
If I’d got my act together and done the test day I really think a podium was there for the taking and so now it’s on to Castle Combe for the next two rounds.
