Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Back to some exercise

After feeling decidedly unmotivated the last two days and failing to get out of bed in time to go running this morning I gave my self a stern talking to and headed to the gym for Pilates at lunchtime and then slipped off at 4.30 to go home so I could go for a run. It's unusual for me to go running in the afternoon but I couldn't go three days without doing some exercise!

I drove down to Centennial Park and did one lap of the inside and then a loop around the lake for a total of 5.5km. I had a few twinges from the knee and quite a sharp pain when I stopped which I haven't felt for a few weeks so it's probably a good thing I'm going back to Aqua Satan in the morning. Generally I've felt that it has been getting better and maybe I just tried to do a little too much after slacking off for a few days. Who knows with these bloody injuries, alright one day, stuffed the next!! It was hard work with the humidity even though it was relatively cool and I felt like I was labouring around the park rather than running, but it's better than nothing!

Week 4 plan
Now I've actually started to do some exercise I'll try and keep it up for the rest of the week!
Tues GRC and run Done
Weds Aqua Satan am and Spin and weights pm
Thurs Run (hopefully) am and a night out with the Evil Twin Sister
Friday Aqua Satan am and Pilates pm
Saturday Pilates am and water running pm

Weight loss last week 0 (total 2kgs).. On the bright side it didn't go up!

Now lets see if I can stick to it this week otherwise I'll have to get 'cold' DJ to give me a good talking to.

posted by Lulu @ 8:18 PM 6 comments

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Tagged

I know someone tagged me and I'm sorry I can't remember who it was. I read it last week.. that's my excuse. Anyhoo here's the answers!

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was living in London at the height of the IT boom and working as the sales manager looking after Northern Europe and South Africa for an American start-up. I was probably counting the months until I had been there for 2 years so I could cash in my stock options and run away. At this stage in my life I smoked and drank and spent most of my life at work or on planes. I did belong to a nice health club where I spent time sitting in the bar with my girlfriends after a gentle game of tennis or a workout in the gym. I couldn't have run for the bus though at that stage!

Five snacks I enjoy
Almonds
Rice crackers
Chocolate Digestives or Hobnobs (English biscuits, clearly not allowed under the present weight loss regime!)
Chocolate (as above.. banned substance)
Those funny little Bounce protein balls.

Five songs I know all the words too
Most of the songs from the wizard of Oz ( I once played Dorothy in a school play and my memory has retained most of the songs)
Material Girl: I have no idea why but I discovered this when playing Songstar with the Evil Twin sister up at the blue mountains over new year.
Can't think of any others.

5 things I'd do as a millionnaire.
Well it depends on if you're talking just one or twomillions or many more! With two million I'd retire from full time work, maybe do a Ph.d and do some more charity work and follow my other interests.

With many millions I would follow the example of a good friend of mine in the UK who ended up making about $150m in the IT boom. She bought a fantastic house and paid off her families mortgages but has now set up a charitable trust providing health care for children in third world countries and she still keeps in touch with her humble friends!

5 things I like doing
Reading
Writing
Running
Wining and dining with Mr lulu
Travel

posted by Lulu @ 6:32 PM 3 comments

Howlong?

Yes, Howlong is the name of the small town on the NSW-VIC border that Mr lulu's father lives in. I'm relieved to be back home after a week of travelling and spending time with the in-laws. I know most people have trouble with the mother in law but I have more trouble with the father in law. He's a somewhat troubled character and it's a miracle that Mr lulu has turned out to be the well balanced person he is; must have been because he was out running all the time :)

I must confess to being a tad slack this week; another week of not doing all the exercise I set myself. My self discipline seems to be slipping and I'll have to give myself a stern talking to this week.

Thursday
It was so hot on Australia Day down in Howlong that when we arrived I decided to check on the pool in town and then stay in the air con. Well we walked to the pool which had the most irratic opening hours and it wasn't open. Back to the house where I confess I stayed all day.

Friday
The pool opened at 6.30 and so Mr lulu walked up with me and then set off on a very successful 10km run (47 mins) and I did a Aqua Satan type workout. The pool was probably about 20 metres and only deep enough for about 2/3 of it so I just made it up as I went along. Did about 35 mins workout. The pool didn't seem to have many actual swimmers in it. A few ladies were standing around chatting and making a lame attempt at some exercise. They seemed quite fascinated by me and my flotation belt and I had a bit of a chat with them.

You can't do anything in a small town without being noticed and when Mr lulu arrived back at the pool to collect me the ladies in question told him I had already left. Very observant of them to notice him dropping me off in the first place!

Saturday
A run at last! My knee recovered quite well from the Bordertown run and but the humidity even at 6.45 in Howlong was quite oppressive. I don't know how the Queenslanders do it! In the end I did about 4.45 km with Mr lulu keeping me company. We ran up to the oval and then did 4 laps of the oval alternating one lap easy, one lap hard, and it certainly was hard.

Sunday
I lazed in bed reading my book 'The Red Queen' by Margaret Drabble and Mr lulu did the running today: 14kms and he is feeling like his niggles are all gone and his condition is returning. I didn't like to ask what condition that was :) I thought about doing some exercise but that was as far as it went by the time we got back to Sydney, did the shopping and other chores to get ourselves ready for the week. Next week I will be better behaved I promise!

Can't update weight today as I didn't weigh myself this morning. I'll be surprised if I've lost anything as all the travelling I've done this week has made it a bit more difficult to keep to my programme.

posted by Lulu @ 6:17 PM 4 comments

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Smoking!

Yes that's Bordertown and me.. well I seem to have discovered some previously lost speed... well what passes for speed for me. Probably wasn't the wisest move to try a burst of speed in my last km but I enjoyed it.

It was a lovely cool morning in the small town of Mundulla, nr Bordertown, this morning. The sky was already starting to look hazy and the sun was an eery red colour. By the time I left town in the early afternoon the whole area was covered in smoke from the fires in the Grampians. Amazing how far smoke can travel.

Back to the run I started off feeling strong and ran along the road until I found a nice section of grass verge to run on. I ran along a road with vineyards which was lovely and I didn't see another soul. I should have had Wine Trail Runner with me!

This is the longest ( and fastest) run I've done for a while. I did 5kms with the splits at 6.04, 6.09, 6.27, 6.12 and 5.36. Not blistering I know but I'm feeling like I'm not going entirely backwards with the limited running I'm doing. Knee grumbled a bit on the last km when I was also running on a hard surface, but seems OK now. Have to see what it's like in the morning.

Off to Albury in the morning. I've been hopping on and off flights like buses this week and will be glad to be one place for a couple of weeks when I get back on Sunday.

Good luck to all who are doing the Australia Day run.

posted by Lulu @ 10:21 PM 6 comments

Monday, January 23, 2006

Back to the land.

I managed to get up at 5.30 so I could fit in a quick run before heading to the airport and did a quick loop around Queen's Park and back. I taped my knee the night before to save time and I think I've got the tape in the right place at last!

I only did 3.6kms with a mixture of road and grass and no knee pain which is a good sign I think!
But I was so slow, I can't even bear to look at Garth and see how slowly I ran. Still I'll worry about that once my knee is fixed I suppose. I must admit I'm getting a bit fed up with it now and am wishing I'd never gone to the physio and just ignored it like I did last year. I'm sure it will be better in the long run though.. won't it?

Off to Aqua Satan first thing in the morning before the long old slog out to Bordertown.. hope it's still there as I saw on the news last night that there are fires near there. I'm hoping to get approval for a bit of a longer run while I'm there to see how that goes.

posted by Lulu @ 8:07 PM 9 comments

Sunday, January 22, 2006

A weekend in the water

I decided to spend the weekend doing deep water running rather than land running. I'm travelling again next week and there's not many pools in Bordertown so I thought I would save my land running quota to this week.

So the weekend went:

Saturday: AM Pilates GRC class; felt very weak and wussy this morning!
PM late afternoon water running session down at Clovelly.
10 mins warm up
Intervals of 2.5 mins hard 30 secs rest X 8
10 mins cooldown. A total of about 40 mins
Then I had a nice snorkel with Mr lulu.

Sunday
Went to Bondi Icebergs as Mr lulu was having a massage. I got in the slow lane and did a lap to warm up, which took me about 4.5 mins. Then I did another 7 laps at a good steady pace and having a quick breather at each end of the pool.
Felt pretty good afterwards and had a bit of sunbathe too. Managed to get burned on my back depsite wearing a tee shirt in the water. I think it was walking to the pool that did it! Hope Mr lulu doesn't notice otherwise I'll be in big trouble later!

Week in review:

Didn't do everything that I had on my programme this week but managed to do something most days. I was a bit ambitious with last week's plan I think! Plus I was feeling decidely unmotivated and tired for most of the week so it's not a bad effort!

Monday Aqua and Pilates
Tuesday: nothing, nada!
Weds Aqua Satan
Thurs: run 30 mins!
Fri: Aqua Satan
Sat: Water running 40 mins and Pilates
Sun: Water running 30 mins

Weight loss .5kg (total lost 2kgs)

Week 3
This is going to be a bit more tricky this week and I'm not likely to get a trip to the gym in either, so I'll have to do some Pilates stuff on my own this week or suffer when I go back!

Monday; Run 30 mins
Tuesday: Aqua Satan
Weds: Run 30 mins or longer if knee is OK (Bordertown)
Thursday: Water running (Albury)
Friday, Sat and Sunday: Run or water running depending on knee (Albury)

posted by Lulu @ 7:16 PM 10 comments

Friday, January 20, 2006

More pool work

Back to the pool this morning for another 1hrs workout.

Standard warm up
Stretches
Strength exercise
5 mins warm up run
10 mins hard intervals broken up with either the arm exercises or plyometric jump thingies!
( Just for you DJ I'll tell you what they are. Plyometrics helps develop more explosive strength so it's like doing a star jump but going in and out really quickly and landing where you started. There are a few variations; legs back and forward; out to the side; high knees.)
More stretching
New exercise doing one leg squats which is hard in the water, on the stairs and I kept falling over much to the amusement of the geriatrics who were pottering about in the pool. I feel sorry for them actually as they have a nice time gently doing their exercises and then I arrive and start running in the middle of them, causing lots of waves and bobbling them all about. Aqua Satan says it's good for them as it challenges their balance and stability more but some of them don't look very happy about it when I arrive!

I didn't manage a trip to the gym yesterday and I've got a lunch on today so depending on how much wine is consumed will depend on whether I make it or not.

Knee feels better today than it did before I ran which is a good sign I hope. I'm allowed another short run this weekend. Yippee!

posted by Lulu @ 9:10 AM 7 comments

Thursday, January 19, 2006

SWEAT groupie !

I decided to drive down to Centennial and see the SWEAT crew as they finished their workout with Big Bertha, and then do a loop of the inside running track on the grass.

It was great to see everyone and Mr lulu and I hope to be back soon.

DJ was running home so he escorted me on the first bit of my run and then he peeled off and I was on my own. Knees had the odd niggle and I stopped and walked for 50 metres which seemed to settle them down. In total I did 4km with really only a twinge. I'm not sure if they're getting better or not so I'll have to see how they feel next week. I've been slacking off gym and Pilates so will try and do a Pilates class this afternoon and then I've got a massage booked.

I feel really fatigued today and would quite happily go back to the bed for the rest of the day. I know that it doesn't make much difference though and so I'm going to have lunch with a friend instead.. oh yeah and I'll do some work I suppose!

I also noted this morning that my body temp was way down to 35.8 instead of around 36.2 which is interesting as it supports my theory that my metabolism is really sluggish when I'm feeling this tired and it's not just my imagination! Next week I'll be able to have the blood tests ordered by Dr Ludka and hopefully that will reveal all.

posted by Lulu @ 10:09 AM 7 comments

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Another pool workout

I walked up to the hydro pool for my morning workout today. I only had 40 mins today as I had to be in early to meet a new client.
Session consisted of:
Warm up
Stretches
5 mins running
10 mins running with either an arm exercise or a plyometrics jumping type thingie inbetween each minute.
Stretches again.

Both knees are grumbling at me today and I'm not sure why. I did nothing yesterday because I felt very fatigued and didn't want to run when I was feeling like that; I don't get to do it very often so I'd like to enjoy it when I do. It might have been the hydro/pilates double that has annoyed them; they're not really sore just grumpy and I can feel them. I will see how they are in the morning but I'm planning to run all being well.

posted by Lulu @ 1:19 PM 3 comments

Monday, January 16, 2006

Hydro girl and Pilates

I was in the pool by 7am, with Aqua-Satan very pleased with my weekend's activities and the progress of the knee.

He had an interesting session planned for me this morning:
Warm up
Stretches
Strength exercises
Running 5 mins up to 75% effort
6 mins of 30 secs run hard 15 secs arm exercises, 15 secs rest
4 mins of 30 secs hard 15 secs leg/core, 15 secs rest
Pyramid 15, 30, 45, 1, 1.30 building each section up in intensity and then repeating from the top and reducing effort for each one. That was quite a tough session and I sneaked in a couple of 10 sec breaks when Aqua-Satan was attending to one of the oldies in the pool.
4 x Plyometrics exercises, lots of jumping
Stretch

Managed to make it to Pilates afterwards for a 45 mins GRC class and it's a great feeling having all the exercise out of the way.

This week's schedule has change a bit after consultation with Aqua Satan. He things I'll need another 3-4 weeks of intense pool work, whilst gradually increasing the amount of running I do. then I will probably only need to go every 1 or 2 weeks for some new exercises and can carry on the water running on my own, but he's pleased with the progress so far.

Monday Hydro and pilates (done)
Tues run 30-40 mins (stop as soon as it starts to hurt) on grass, weights programme
Weds Hydro and Pilates
Thurs Spin and weights
Fri Hydro and Pilates
Sat Water running
Sunday Grass run

posted by Lulu @ 9:52 AM 4 comments

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Duracell girl, grass run and a gourmet walk

It's been a busy weekend as it's Johnny's last weekend before we have to send him back to the cold and grey days of Blighty.. and he's not happy about it; sadly we were unable to find him an Australian woman to marry in the short time available to us!

Saturday
I enjoyed a nice sleep in on Saturday and decided to go down to Clovelly beach in the afternoon to do some water running. Johnny was already cooking himself to a nice lobster pink when Mr lulu and I arrived just after 3pm. The boys went off for a snorkel while I strapped on my flotation belt and started off on some water running. My session consisted of:
5 mins warm up
1.30 hard 30 secs easy x5
1.30 rest
1.30 hard 30 secs easy x5
5 mins steady
3 mins cool down

Meanwhile Mr lulu and Johnny were observing from the shore and said that I looked like a little Duracell bunny, water running whilst people were milling around me and I was turning to avoid swimmers and snorkellers. It was a bit busy but apart from that it was a very pleasant workout. I didn't have to worry about running before it got too hot and although my heartrate was up to a good level I didn't end up feeling hot and exhausted as the water kept me cool. Mr lulu took my belt and had a try of the water running too and I could see what he meant about being Duracell girl when I saw him doing it! You do look a little strange. I much prefer it to swimming though; you don't have to get your hair wet, you can look at the scenary and I had a few little chats with fellow water users!

Sunday
This morning was my try-out run on grass and I'm very pleased to report that I did 30 mins around Queen's Park with no knee pain at all; Yippee! I'll see what it's like in the morning before I celebrate too much though as last time the next day my itb was sore. Hopefully Aqua Satan will let me do another couple of runs this week and try and build up the time.

After a quick breakfast we headed off for one of Mr lulu and I's gourmet walks. This involves doing a nice walk, usually somewhere around the harbour which ends up at a nice restaurant. Today we caught the ferry to Taronga Zoo and then walked along the harbour to Balmoral. The path has recently been opened up to pass through the old defence area at Georges Heights and so now you can go all the way to Balmoral along the harbour forshore. The path would now allow you to go all the way from Taronga Zoo to North Head, as it joins the Spit Bridge to Manly trail. You could do a nice run along this harbour path and I'll have to suggest it to Jen and the Owl when we are ready to tackle something adventurous! Our walk today was only 7km but you could go a lot further.

The gourmet part was satisfied by having a very nice lunch at the Balmoral Bathers cafe; delicious! We caught the bus back to Taronga, the ferry back to the City and then home in the lulumobile.

Week 1 summary:
3 hydro sessions
1 run 3km
2 Pilates classes

Weight lost: this week 1.5kg (total 1.5kg) (hopefully todays' gourmet lunch hasn't undone all the good work!


Week 2 plan.
Monday: Aqua-satan (60 mins) and Pilates
Tuesday: Spin class and weights
Weds: either Aqua Satan or a run, and Pilates
Thursday: Spin class and weights
Friday: Aqua Satan, water running or a run, and Pilates
Saturday: Water running 45 mins
Sunday: Run 40 mins, I hope!

posted by Lulu @ 4:36 PM 10 comments

Friday, January 13, 2006

Intervals in the pool

I dragged myself out of bed and down to the hydro pool this morning for another session with aqua-satan. Another predominantly water running programme today.

5 mins warm-up
Stretches
5 mins running warm-up
5 x 1.30 hard 30 secs rest
2 mins rest
5 x1.30 hard 30 secs rest
Strength exercises
Stretches

I was in the pool for about 70 mins in total and felt like I'd had a good workout when I'd finished. Doing intervals in the pool really gets your heart rate up.

I'm allowed to do a run at the weekend ; yippee! A short one on grass but I'll take it! Also planning on some pilates and some water running so a good weekend ahead.

posted by Lulu @ 10:11 AM 9 comments

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Hydro girl!

Sunday's run went out the window when I still felt a bit tight in the ITB so I just did a pilates class instead.

Monday was down to the hydro pool to see the physio or aqua-satan as I think I shall call him if Jen doesn't mind! He certainly likes to work you hard!

Having told him I wanted to do the half marathon in May he looked a bit worried but I've been back again today and he's fairly confident that it gives us time for me to get fit and strong enough to do it pain free which is excellent news! Monday's session was lots of stretching, some core stability work and then about 15 mins of water running in the hydro pool.

Tuesday I tried a short run on grass; about 3km around Queens Park. I taped my knee and didn't really get much knee pain, only a few twinges so I should be able to do some short runs on grass at least.

Today we did a much tougher session in the hydro pool; 5 min warm up ( basically walking and some long strides across the pool, then stretches and then some about 25 mins of cardio + strengthening. I would do 1 min running at 75% effort and then 1 min of a strengthening exercise. Then we did about 10 mins running varying between 50-75% effort. It certainly gets the heart rate up. Apparently you have to adjust heart rate for being in the pool . For example my heart rate after the session was about 130 which is equivalent to 145 on land. I was wondering if you got the leg strength you need by running in the water but after that session my quads felt like they'd done a run. The session ended with some more core stability and upper body work. A pretty good hour's session where I felt I had really good all over workout.

I'll be back on Friday for another session and then next week I'll be starting my deep water running training programme I think. He has a programme that involves running 5 days per week with a variety of sessions mixing up interval training and then long steady runs up to about 70 mins. The pool in my gym is not deep enough but Aqua-Satan's wife recommends Clovelly beach or Bronte pool as she is currently trying out the deep water running as she is recovering from a stress fracture. While it's summer it should be a good place to go and hopefully I won't still be doing it when it's not hot!

My other appointment on Monday was with Dr Ludka who was recommended to The Owl. A somewhat eccentric Dr but very thorough. Her initial diagnosis is that I have an underactive thyroid. I have all the symptoms in bucket loads apparently: the constant fatigue, feeling cold, very low blood pressure (94/57), low body temperature, weight gain, other hormones all over the place and so on. I'm hopeful she's right but I know it's often not that simple. She's given me forms for blood tests so extensive it looks like I'll have an empty arm. Won't be able to do them for a couple of weeks as I have to be in the right point in my cycle (of non bike type!) so she can check oestrogen and progesterone levels as well. Fingers crossed that we'll crack it this time and she's right as it would be very nice to get my mojo back.

Interestingly with both my current issues; knee problems and lack of mojo, I probably wouldn't have noticed unless I ran. I think that's a good thing. For example, Aqua-Satan's patients are mostly people who have had serious surgery such as hip or knee replacements. I have some of the same biomechanical issues that they do and his view is, deal with it now and hopefully you'll never need a hip replacement. If I didn't run I wouldn't know and perhaps eventually would need something more serious. The same applies to my lack of energy. Running makes me feel it more acutely and has made me persist in looking for answers, rather than just accept that it's my age, or that I am destined to be fat and lazy!

Although I'm frustrated that I can't get really back into my training, and I'm really missing my running buddies, I'm feeling pretty positive. Aqua-satan's goal is to get me running for the long term, pain free; stronger and fitter than ever before. If I can also sort out my other issues and get some weight off, there should be no stopping me. Fingers crossed anyway!

posted by Lulu @ 9:53 AM 10 comments

Saturday, January 07, 2006

I spoke a little too soon!

I think I spoke a little too soon when I thought my knee survived yesterday's run. This morning I woke up to go to the pool to meet Jen for a swim and discovered the dreaded ITB was sore. I occasionally get a bit of soreness but this was worse than usual but did feel better after a swim and a bit of a massage. Needless to say the rolling pin has been used with avengance in the last few hours. It's all connected to the same basic issues that cause my knee problems but I've so far managed to avoid it getting worse. I'll have to review the situation in the morning and decide whether to run or not or to wait and see the physio on Monday.

Didn't really feel like swimming but plodded along to do 500m before I decided I'd had enough.. Johnny did my other 500m for me to make up our joint km! Mr lulu and Jen did the serious swimming whilst us poms pottered about in the diplomatically named "recreational" lane :)

Very nice breakfast and that's the end of my eating out extravanganza as the serious eating plan starts tomorrow so I'll be on bread and water from here on.. maybe one tiny square of chocolate might slip in occasionally just to keep me sane.

posted by Lulu @ 4:04 PM 8 comments

Friday, January 06, 2006

Lotsa stuff!

I may not have been bloggin' but I've been busy doing lots of different things!

Yesterday I went to the gym, did my weights programme and then did a Spin class. No knee pain doing either which is good so this morning I headed out to do a lap of the internal track at Centennial Park. In total we did 7.7km in 49 mins and it was lovely being out in the cooler Sydney weather. We started off at quite a good pace and then I had a slump in the middle when I thought the extra Christmas kilos were weighing me down but then after I'd run up the hill on Macpherson St I was feeling strong again. We're aiming for 10km on Sunday.

My knee is definitely happier running on grass than on the road so I'm going to stick to as many grass tracks as possible in the next few weeks.

After my run and a banana I dashed up the road to visit a new physio who came highly recommended by a girlfriend who is recovering from a back operation. He operates a hydrotherapy practice at the War Memorial Hospital as well as being a normal physio. I liked him because he didn't give me the "you're the wrong shape to run" or " biomechanics are rubbish" speech that some physios give me but went straight to the "how to fix you so you can meet your running goals" bit. After a quick land based assessment it was into the pool for some exercises and stretches. He then had me tethered to the wall in a harness so I could do some running which was interesting and quite hard work in a warm pool ( I felt like a pony, or perhaps in my case a carthorse!).

The result is he thinks it's definitely fixable and all the work I've been doing over the last few weeks has definitely helped the situation which is good news. He's shown me how to strap my knee and he wants me to experiment with that over the next few days to see if I can work out where the tape needs to be to give the maximum support and reduction in knee pain when squatting or running. I have to report back to him on Monday with a list of my running goals (easy to do as the're right here!) and then he'll develop a programme that includes some land based stretching and strengthening and then some water running so that I can do some training in the pool, so that I don't do all my running on the road, until the knee is better. Sounds like quite a good plan and I'll be interested to see what he comes up with on Monday.

posted by Lulu @ 2:43 PM 11 comments

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Running and Pilates

A much cooler morning for running this morning and so my UK visitor, Jon, and I went off for a 40min trot around the lake in Centennial Park. It's always easier running with someone else as it takes you mind off the pain and my legs seem to have remembered what running is again now so I enjoyed today's run much more than the last one.

We did my 40min loop course which is 6.2km and we raced down the hill back to home just to see what the knee thought about that. Not too bad is the verdict but I did feel my knee more than I did the last time, but it seems to be on the other side of my knee now. I'm trying to get a physio appointment and hopefully I'll be able to see someone in the next few days.

After a quick brekkie I dropped Mr lulu and Jon at the SCG for a day at the cricket while I went to the gym for a quick Pilates class. Knee feels better after some more stretching and strengthening.

I'll have a couple of days not running again now and do a SPIN class and weights tomorrow I think and cardio and Pilates on Friday.. that's the plan anyway!

posted by Lulu @ 12:30 PM 6 comments

Monday, January 02, 2006

New Year's Day run

After a late night seeing the new year in we managed to get out of the door for a new year's day run at about 7.15 and it was already hot. I set off not committed to a particular time or course until I worked out how I felt. Not too bad but legs seem to have forgotten in two weeks what running is all about and after 2kms I had a short walk break and then did another 2.5kms.

Slow and sluggish but the really good news was that there was no knee pain and I felt that the right knee was tracking better and the glute and VMO doing a bit more work. Hopefully if I build up slowly over the next couple of weeks and continue the strengthening programme as well we may have stopped the problem getting any worse. The real test will come when I do longer runs as that was when I really start to notice.

All in all a good start to the year!

posted by Lulu @ 6:02 PM 5 comments