Injury is a &*^%$

7 weeks training down and just over 7 months to go until the Outlaw. On the whole training *was* going well – I’ve been slowly building up both the duration of my sessions and the intensity. I’m now spending over 2.5 hours on the bike at a consistent Z2 HR (128-147bpm) and have built up to 1.5 hours on the road also at Z2 (137-156bpm) which considering I was never a runner is something I’m very happy with. Despite going semi crazy on the turbo trainer (and watching more content from iPlayer than any man with two kids should) everything was progressing well, even the swim is becoming a semi achievable target.

Anyway, I say it *was* all going relatively well, that was until I was out for a run about two weeks ago and felt a sharp pain to the right side of my shin. Being a man I obviously ran on until I reached home but by then it was pretty painful, I put it on ice and wore a compression bandage and didn’t run for around 10 days – I then did a very brief run (~5k) during which it felt great until about 4.5k and then the sharp pain came back. Sod it. So now I’m back with my foot up, compression on and Ibuprofen in 4 hourly doses to reduce the swelling. But staying off the road is tough; i can still swim and cycle without any pain, but running on the road is a no no. I’m itching to start again (which i find it hard to admit) and not relishing having to stay off it for much longer. I might even need to take myself to the gym and try the elliptical just to expend some of the extra energy. Hmmm.

Training events in the run up to Outlaw are slotting into place, with my entry into the Bedford Middle (70.3) confirmed for May 19th – which should be fun 😉 I’ve also been giving some more thought to taking part for charity – more to come in the New Year (when I start harassing you all for your hard earned cash).

Merry Christmas everyone.