Exercise and Fitness - Olympic spirit!

[Iskaral Pust]

Yesterday evening after work I got back to the gym.  Legs were still very sore so I did another upper body session: bench press and cable row.  I varied the pattern of sets and had a good session.   

It was good to get another workout before we spend today traveling.  Exercise will be patchy at best this week ahead at my in-laws. 

[ljkeane]

Great, probably got about 4 hours in A&E waiting to get stitched up now, that's always fun. The shithouses we were playing didn't have a first team game either so they all played against us, first loss of the season to the team who are bottom of the league when they actually play their seconds. They still only won by three points.

[baxus]

21 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

That might be a good idea. Maybe I could try to watch TV series while cycling.

You will definitely need something to take your mind off the mind-numbing boredom that accompanies stationary cardio exercising.  

[3CityApache]

11 hours ago, Leap said:

although my time wasn't ideal (5:30/km), I'm alright with it. Plenty of time to get better. As long as I can hit a sub-2:00 half next spring I'll be happy

Actually with the 5:30 pace you're going to comfortably hit a sub-2:00 half marathon anyway, so you don't need to get better. You just need to maintain it for 21 km.  

My Saturday run went fine, as a matter of fact so fine I made almost 15 km instead of 10 I planned (or less, if the ankle was to trouble me). So I hope my Wednesday run in Barcelona (flying tomorrow) is still on schedule.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

I did 5k today with a mixture of walking and running today and was able to run the first 1.25m  and my pace was 13'06" /m . Am I pushing too hard?

[baxus]

9 hours ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

I did 5k today with a mixture of walking and running today and was able to run the first 1.25m  and my pace was 13'06" /m . Am I pushing too hard?

You're the only one who can answer that, I'm afraid.

The best I can tell you is to take it a bit easier if you're feeling drained after your run.

Keep in mind, all you need to achieve at first is to form a habit of working out regularly. That's it. Pushing your boundaries comes later.  

[BigFatCoward]

Anybody ever had chronic pain in their heel?  Reading up on it it sounds like plantar fasciitis but i still need this confirmed.  Its been nagging me for a couple of weeks and today i woke up and literally couldn't walk. i have had to crawl into the living room to start icing it.  

other than rest, ice and ibuprofen anybody got any advice?

[3CityApache]

Change of shoes may or may not help, from what I heard, but it's worth checking out.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

4 hours ago, baxus said:

You're the only one who can answer that, I'm afraid.

The best I can tell you is to take it a bit easier if you're feeling drained after your run.

Keep in mind, all you need to achieve at first is to form a habit of working out regularly. That's it. Pushing your boundaries comes later.  

I wouldn't say I felt drained but it was the first day  that I ran when it was really cold. 

I'm doing a good job of staying in the habit. I haven't missed a run yet .  

[zelticgar]

4 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Anybody ever had chronic pain in their heel?  Reading up on it it sounds like plantar fasciitis but i still need this confirmed.  Its been nagging me for a couple of weeks and today i woke up and literally couldn't walk. i have had to crawl into the living room to start icing it.  

other than rest, ice and ibuprofen anybody got any advice?

Heel? On the bottom of the foot or up towards the ankle?  Plantar IIRC is more towards the middle of the foot on the bottom. You may have achilles tendonitis if it is up towards the ankle. The classic symptom of Achilles Tendonitis is more severe pain in the morning. Either way, whether it is Plantar or Achilles the only fix I know of is exactly what you describe. Pop a few ibuprofen in the morning, rest and ice. I alway ice using a small trash bucket. Fill it halfway with ice and then put cold water to a level just high enough so the ice moves around. Immerse the whole foot in for 15 to 20 minutes. Hurts like hell for the first 3 or 4 minutes but it will numb up eventually and you can keep it in for awhile. 

The one time I got Plantar it only took about a week to heal. I've had Achilles Tendonitis 3 or 4 times and it is usually a longer process. anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. 

Always get new shoes as well. that seems to help. 

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

19 minutes ago, Leap said:

 

Do you know what your pace was the for first 1.25m? It sounds to me like you might benefit from slowing down a little bit and trying to keep running over a longer distance. In your place that's what I'd do anyway, but I'd also have to echo Baxus and say that, at this point, the best thing to do is keep running (as you are doing). 

Another option is to split up your run into structured walk/run parts. Instead of running the first 1.25m and wearing yourself out early, alternate running/walking every half a mile. 

I don't know for sure but 10 or 11ish. I don't really go that fast when I start out. I concentrate on running for at least ten minutes after my warm up. 

I'm doing something close to that right now. After I finish the first portion I'll walk for a half mile or so at brisk pace and then try to run again for at least a quarter of a mile but I'm trying to stretch that out. I want to gradually fill in the gaps. 

[Iskaral Pust]

10 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Anybody ever had chronic pain in their heel?  Reading up on it it sounds like plantar fasciitis but i still need this confirmed.  Its been nagging me for a couple of weeks and today i woke up and literally couldn't walk. i have had to crawl into the living room to start icing it.  

other than rest, ice and ibuprofen anybody got any advice?

Ask Starkess/Nora.  She's been struggling with the same thing for a while.  

[Iskaral Pust]

This morning I got a guest pass to an LA Fitness near my in-laws and did some bench press, pull-ups, dumbbell flies and arm curls. 

It was nice to have a proper Olympic barbell instead of a Smith machine.  Stabilizing the bar adds an extra dimension.  I lifted 185lbs pretty comfortably so nice to know that the Smith machine approximates reality. 

Going to a real gym is a useful humbling experience.  I'm one of the strongest guys in my home gym but I'm like a big sturgeon who just swam downstream to the ocean and saw whales.  

[3CityApache]

5 hours ago, Leap said:

Yejust sucks to have dropped 30-40 seconds off my pace.

I don't think you have dropped so much off your pace. You run with a different pace for 5k, different for 10k, and different for 21k after all. You said you have run for 40 minutes, which means almost two times longer than your usual 5k runs, no? The pace must have been naturally slower.

Just arrived at the hotel in Barcelona. Went for swimming in the hotel pool. It was small, about 12 meters long, so I had to make 200 laps, but it was ok,  was mostly alone. Running has to wait for tomorrow.

[Starkess]

16 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Anybody ever had chronic pain in their heel?  Reading up on it it sounds like plantar fasciitis but i still need this confirmed.  Its been nagging me for a couple of weeks and today i woke up and literally couldn't walk. i have had to crawl into the living room to start icing it.  

other than rest, ice and ibuprofen anybody got any advice?

Heel pain is a real, well, pain. I've been struggling with it since June/July timeframe and still don't have it fully kicked. If you're having worse pain in the morning, that's a key symptom of plantar fasciitis or insertional achilles tendinopathy. (I do not have this symptom--mine get worse throughout the day the more I stand on them--so my doctor suspects I have bone spurs/achilles enthesitis, but heel pain can be difficult to diagnose and I haven't gone to a podiatrist/specialist.)

Stretching can be very helpful, there are loads of examples out there for good ones to try. You can try an overnight boot or Strassburg sock to help relieve morning stiffness. I got a foot roller that I use on my heel, and I use a roller stick on my calves, both of which seem to help. New shoes are a good idea as well as inserts--I've had some luck with OTC (Scholl's and Super Feet) but you can also get prescription ones. Try to limit barefoot/sandals and keep the heel/foot supported.

And rest! I have to just stay off my feet as much as possible when they are flaring up.

There are a lot of different remedies out there for heel pain, and over the past few months I have come to the conclusion that it's a lot of trial and error to find the ones that are effective for you. And it's a slow recovery--people usually are looking at months or longer, sadly. 

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

4 hours ago, Leap said:

 

Speaking of running and Spain, has anyone ever considered doing the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona? 

It's on my list of crackpot adventures I want to go on. 

[baxus]

8 hours ago, Leap said:

Speaking of running and Spain, has anyone ever considered doing the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona? 

The only thing I considered regarding Running with the Bulls in Pamplona is how bored must those guys (and girls) be to consider THAT a fun idea.  

[Loge]

On 11/22/2016 at 10:18 AM, BigFatCoward said:

Anybody ever had chronic pain in their heel?  Reading up on it it sounds like plantar fasciitis but i still need this confirmed.  Its been nagging me for a couple of weeks and today i woke up and literally couldn't walk. i have had to crawl into the living room to start icing it.  

other than rest, ice and ibuprofen anybody got any advice?

Treating the symptoms won't help much if you don't address the cause. If it's running-related then you probably should change your routine. I have never had your specific problem but the one time I had an issue (with the knees) I was just pushing to hard. That was when I was new to running and thought it was just cardio. But you need to build up some leg muscle before you can run long distances without injury. That means there's a limit to how fast you can ramp up your mileage. In my case that meant I had to reign in my ambition. 

[BigFatCoward]

14 hours ago, Starkess said:

Heel pain is a real, well, pain. I've been struggling with it since June/July timeframe and still don't have it fully kicked. If you're having worse pain in the morning, that's a key symptom of plantar fasciitis or insertional achilles tendinopathy. (I do not have this symptom--mine get worse throughout the day the more I stand on them--so my doctor suspects I have bone spurs/achilles enthesitis, but heel pain can be difficult to diagnose and I haven't gone to a podiatrist/specialist.)

Stretching can be very helpful, there are loads of examples out there for good ones to try. You can try an overnight boot or Strassburg sock to help relieve morning stiffness. I got a foot roller that I use on my heel, and I use a roller stick on my calves, both of which seem to help. New shoes are a good idea as well as inserts--I've had some luck with OTC (Scholl's and Super Feet) but you can also get prescription ones. Try to limit barefoot/sandals and keep the heel/foot supported.

And rest! I have to just stay off my feet as much as possible when they are flaring up.

There are a lot of different remedies out there for heel pain, and over the past few months I have come to the conclusion that it's a lot of trial and error to find the ones that are effective for you. And it's a slow recovery--people usually are looking at months or longer, sadly. 

the weird thing is that it has flared up when i've cut right down on my excercise.  i don't run, but i normally cycle about 30 mile a day to and from work.  recently with the weather being shit i've been being a bit lazy, i find it odd that it has flared up now. 

[baxus]

@BigFatCoward

Have you injured your heel before? I know people who have healed their injuries but still have some pain when the weather changes.

If that was the case, I doubt it would hurt so bad you couldn't walk properly. It's a long shot, but it's worth a mention.