An Achilles Situation - Again

After putting in such a good performance at the St Neots half on 16th Nov getting a PB, ive been suffering for it ever since.

My achilles has been playing up a bit lately and both calves were very tight after St Neots. So I took the sensible decision of taking the week off running and then i ran the LB XC on Sunday as things were feeling ok.

I have woke up this morning with a tender achilles and have made an appoitmet to see Keith (physio). I thought my days of seeing the physio were over, hence why i spent £350 on orthotics!

Well, i think the orthotics could be part of the problem (well, lack of them).

When i first had them, i noticed that the left one was very uncomfortable - it pushed into the tendon across the bottom of my foot (plantar fascia i think). Graham (letchwth Podiatry) told me this is quite common for the initial stages of "breaking in" orthotics and to just go with for now. If it didnt improve in 2 weeks, to call him back. So, i stuck with it. I was only able to wear them in my shoes for 3 days in a row at a time as it became too painful. So, after 2 weeks of wearing them then not, i called him and said there was no improvement.

I then had to take the left orthotic back and it was sent away to be re shaped. So all in all, ive been without my orthotics for nearly 3 weeks. And its the last 3 weeks ive begun to notice my achilles again.

So, the only thing i can put it down to is that.

I did run hard at St Neots (without orthotics at that point still as they were still beig altered) so, i guess that has contributed. I do now have them back, but have not run in them yet, as im not running. I was hoping to get back into this week, but i will see what Keith says and take it from there.

I think i know what he'll say...........

I really dont want to go through all my marathon training again with this problem - exactly what i had to do last year.

Quality not Quantity!

Let me just explain the photos you see here!

I asked Chris Holt at Cannons (he's a trainer there) if he was up for being entered into the Heat magazine "Torso of the Year" competition. He said yes!! So last Saturday, after his spinning class i smothered him in fake tan, (tough job!!) then took some pics of him without his top on!! (even tougher!!)

I sent them into Heat and i got an email on Friday to say he has made it through to the voting stages!! So, each day, next week, on http://www.heatworld.com/ there will be all the other torso photos that made it through for the public to vote on their favourite, So please log on and vote for Chris. Could be any day next week, so just keep checking! If he gets through to next round, he gets photo shoot in London and i get to go too!! Yay!!!

Anyhow, back to running!! I really do have to keep an eye on my mileage.......im doing too much!! Im guilty of thinking "more is better" and know this is not true! But im just in the habit, and its a hard to one to break. Ive really tried hard this week to do less and only will have run 4 times. My calves felt tight after Hitchin Hills on Thurs, so didnt run for 2 days - only 2 days i hear some of you cry - but thats good for me. Very often i will just go and do a "short one", even if my calves are tight! Which they are most of the time to be fair!! But im trying to stop those "just go for a short one" as they are doing more damage than good i think.

I need to remember "Quality not Quantity" .

Cant believe that marathon season is almost upon us once again - it soon comes around! I do enjoy marathon training, but i also like not having a particular goal and just enjoying my running without any pressure!