Planter Fasciitis to you too!

There's a well known song about the X bone's connected to the Y bone, the Y bone... And logically, the associated muscles, although not physically connected to each other, are closely affected by those around them.

So I strained my calf. The hobble caused my ankle to swell. The limp from the pain has now caused Planter Fasciitis in my foot. Or to sum it up, I'm too bloody old for jogging!

The outcome is that the doctor has recommended rest with light exercise and use of anti inflammatory tablets for the next week or so. So jogging is not an option for a week, however walking is OK as long as I don't over do it.

So when I finally can start jogging again, I will have to start lightly so as not to aggravate the condition - which can last up to a year is some cases! Additionally, my stamina will be back to zero so I will definitely be starting back at week 1 of the C25k plan.  Not happy.

Recap on targets set earlier in the year. 

Initial targets in standard font, updates in italics.

1a Be able to walk at an average 4 mph over a 5k distance. Did 3.7 mph on Saturday - details. I think this is important as we will have to average over 2 mph over the hills to complete the challenge in the required 12 hours. My local area is flat, so 4 mph is a must. - Managed to do a 3.8 mph the following day, but due to injury have not managed that again. Hoping to have a go at the route tomorrow and aiming for 3.5 mph as a starting point.

1b Extend above speed to a 8 mile route. Current best is 3.4 mph. Not had chance to do this route again since November. Hoping to have a go on Friday with Bex.

2a Drop to 77.5 kg by 20th December (I know this will go back up over Christmas!) -  weighed in at 78kg beofre Christmas, so pleased with this.

2b Drop to sub 75 kg by Easter and maintain until June and beyond.  - See 2a

3a Be able to run 5k by mid Janaury (currently working through the couch to 5k programme, so on target) - No chance. Aiming to hit it before Easter now.

3b Be able to run 5k in sub 35 mins - See above

3c Be able to run 10k by Easter -  No way, see above. Need to be able to run 10k before beginning of June

4a Be able to walk around Rutland Water (Short route - 17 miles) in less than 5.5 hours, before the end of this year -  Again, due to injury this has been missed. Now planning to do this is Feb half term.

So overall, pretty poor show at the moment. However most of the failure is due to one particualr problem. If I can ease back into the jogging and walking without aggravating the injury I am hopeful that these new goals are achievable.

One step forward, two steps back...

So at the beginning of December I was running Week 3 of the C25K schedule, and running it quite well. So well in fact I think I pushed myself too far by running a couple of days without rest, and trying to move on to the next phase too soon.

After nearly 3 weeks of calf, ankle, foot, knee pains I cannot run the week 3 schedule! Week 3 is 90 seconds run, 90 seconds rest, 3 mins run, 3 mins rest, then repeat (with 5 min warm up / cool down at each end). I did the first 90 seconds, but after 2 minutes of the 3 I was shattered and in pain. After the rest I managed 90 seconds again, but only about a minute of the final 3.

And as I sit here writing this, my ankle is throbbing! Not a happy bunny.

+Beccy Fairbank is sprinting (well jogging) ahead. She managed 8 mins jog, 5 rest, and 8 jog a couple of times this week. Well done!

Plan of action is to be able to do the week 3 plan - hopefully on Sunday and Tuesday, before moving back onto week 4 - which I was 90% capable of doing 2 weeks ago!

Despite this set back, we are still on track to be able to do the Yorkshire 3 Peaks in the summer of 2014, as long as I get get rid of these aches ASAP.