The Tony Mackness web pages

For once, the new year started on a good note. I left home on New Years day and headed over to Braunstone, Leicester, to do parkrun.
After a good performance at Coventry on Christmas Day I was keen to do well at Braunstone, and went round the 5k course in 21.37.
I must say however that I only measured the course at 3.02 miles so the time is probably not as good as it seems.

Three days later I was brought down to earth with a bump...well that's not strictly true......
I was certainly brought down with a bump but instead of earth it was the deck of the cruise ship Thomson Majesty. I went flying on deck
on the first night and hurt my back. Allthough I did manage to do a couple of 30 minute treadmill runs whilst on board they were not the most
comfortable runs I've ever done. Looking back I know wnow why !

I thought I had just bruised my back. It hurt but after three days there was still no sign of bruising. As the week progresed the pain got worse so a
trip to A&E on my return home confirmed I had either broken or fractured some ribs. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done with this sort
of injury except take plenty of pain killers and ibuprofen, and of course stop running.

After a lay off of 7 weeks my ribs felt good enough to do a test run. 15 minutes at a nice steady pace went well.. Two days later I did another
15 minutes, this time with a bit of soreness in the achilles area. Another days rest and then 15 minutes run, but this time the level of soreness
increased. Plenty of icing and stretching over the next three days seemed to help so I tried a shorter, steadier 12 minute run. The achilles did not
stand up to the test,and it looks like running is on hold again. Am I ever going to rid myself of this injury ?

After that New Years day run when I ran my best 5k since prior to the achilles injury, I felt I had turned the corner.
After 7 weeks rest for the rib injury I thought that would have benefitted my achilles, but not doing anything seems to have had an adverse effect.

I think I should rename this page "The 2013 Injury report"

It is now April 12th. one week before London Marathon. I should have been running it, but for the second year I will be there as a
spectator / supporter instead. My entry was held over from last year, so if I dont use it I lose it. If I ever get fit enough to run it, I will have to take
my chance in the balot or club entry, as I no longer have a qualifying time.

As far as running goes I have started AGAIN....beginning at 10 minutes I have now got up to 22 minutes, the target is to get back up to 30 minutes.

Jump forward to July....... Since April I have been running regularly, building up slowly. It has been great to get out again, three or for times a week.
Finding new routes was an unexpected bonus, as It made me feel like I was a complete novice to running. I consolidated at 30 mins for three weeks before progressing, always mindful of the 10% rule. Slowly I have built up to 10 miles or 84 minutes. It's not always been pain free but "manageable", however the last couple of weeks I've had a soreness in the achilles and heel, so am cutting back again.

16th August 2013:
Unfortunately after a good spell the soreness has continued, during the club August summer handicap, I managed to run 15 minutes and then had to slow down, finishing the 5k in a little over 24 minutes. The following morning it was painful to walk on and continued to be so for the next 7 days.
On day 8 I took a very slow (8.50 minute mile pace) 15 minute run on grass. The following day there wsn't any soreness, so its back to the old routine of a day on a day off and build up slowly. Thats nothing that I didn't do in the beginning, but this time i'm going to run slower and more on grass.

31st October 2013:
My plan to run slower and more on grass seems to have been sucessful. I progressed very slowly, only increasing the duration of my runs by a couple of minutes every other run. When I managed to do 30 minutes I stuck at that level for two weeks before moving on, but again only adding a couple of minutes every other run, and gradually introducing more road work to get used to running on a firmer surface.
I have been doing Parkruns, but NOT racing them ! They are my weekly "tempo" runs where I try to improve on the previous weeks time.
I still do stretching and strengthening exercises practically every day, and allways stretch before and after a run.

Centurion Grand Prix Series

Distance 5 miles

C5
.

Web Site HERE

Organised by Centurion Running Club, consisting of 6 races over a 5 mile traffic free course round
parkland in Chelmsley Wood. One small loop and two larger loops.

Last year I went to watch this race on two occasions.
At the time I was doing a bit of running, but nowhere near enough to take part. Achilles problems and then cracked ribs prevented me running it, but today, 750 days after I had last pinned a race number to my vest, I was there on the start line.
Despite doing park runs on and off this was a race, and I stood on the line quite aprehensively wondering how it was going to turn out. For me it wasn't going to be a "race" as such, just a chance to get out and take part in something which has been missing for so long. Recent 5 miles training runs had been done in 40 minutes, so I targetted finishing between 38 and 39 minutes.

The start is very narrow, so dont expect a fast getaway, but that helps to get the faster runners away and after 50 yards or so you're running freely.. A strong headwind was blowing which, due to the nature of the course we encountered three times, and a short sharp shower arrived just after the off. A very well organised run, with prizes for the first four males and females, and different age category prizes at each event. Hot showers, drinks and snacks are available, and at £5 per race or £20 for the series an absolute bargain.There's also a free raffle afterwards.

As the winter progresses the course will become more difficult. Today I ran in road shoes, but not
sure that they will give enough grip when theres water/snow/ice !

So how did I do ?.... a very respectable 37.02.
Better than expected but as I said earlier It wasnt about "racing".

All being well I'll be back for more next month. Sunday December 1st

November passed without any problems so I was back on the starting line for the December race.
Target was to get in under 37 minutes. This time the weather was perfect for running, and this was reflected
in my time of 35.58.
I would have been pleased with 36.30 or thereabouts but I tagged along with a Centurion Runner
for a seven minute last mile..Which means I'm going to have to try even harder next month, if I want to achive my target of running each month progressively faster !

Click here to jump to the 2014 Centurion 5 results

	Race No	Overall Position	Age Position	Time
Sunday 3rd November	60	58/134	2/9	37.02
Sunday 1st December	183	51/121	4/9	36.55