Training Log Archive: murraystraining

Kepler p2: Iris Burn - Motorua - Te Anau. Gentle downhill all the way home. A bit creaky after yesterday but nothing serious. Lovely forest (to look at, would be hell to run thru).

C • That's the way to do it! 9

Kepler track p1, Te Anau cp - Luxmore - Iris Burn. What a beauty! Perfect weather, manicured trails, ridge line running. Awesome. So glad my calf got fixed in time for this.

First day of 'positive mileage' for five weeks! Out and back on Routeburn Track with Key Summit detour after bumping into Lucy Butt at the car park. Very soggy but great to be running freely again!

Summary of the last month: overdid it Tinto weekend and tweaked calf muscle at end of urban race. Took two days off, thought it was healed and tried to run with Doug but only managed 5k then limped home. That kyboshed the 10-a-day target so aim turned to being healthy for holiday.

After two weeks of gym faff/not much started jogging again and was up to 13km pain free by the morning we left London. Things deteriorated in Tokyo though. After a couple of sightseeing runs had to be cut short I abandoned running and did some walks instead. I thought the issue might have been the many accelerations needed at every set of (scrupulously obeyed) traffic lights but a more straightforward run on the final morning up and down a riverside cycle path also brought pain after 4-5km. I thought the calf tear was more serious and was still healing/weak.

So more walking when we arrived in NZ. I don't particularly enjoy walking but the scenery made it bearable and it didn't seem to aggravate the calf so figured it was better than nothing.
The final straw was a test run from Mt Cook village. After feeling great for 3km (and remembering why I love running) it flared up and I was limping by 3.3km. How can it be getting worse??? This could be a pretty rubbish holiday if I can't run!

Managed to get a last minute physio appointment in Dunedin. Walked in expecting to get told how many weeks until I could start jogging. Didn't expect to get about 30s of treatment to my neck (!) then (after a bit of leg flexibility testing) sent out the door for a test run - which was a pain free and somewhat speedy 5.5km. It's a miracle!

It turns out the pain since leaving is likely unrelated to the Tinto calf tear and instead is a reoccurrence of the nerve issue that screwed up the WLDMRC. Loosen off the tight nerves (triggered by sleeping awkwardly on the flight to Tokyo) and all seems to be right with the world. Let's hope it continues!

C • That's a cracker 5

Dunedin KrapRun. That's a tough course. 18:12 FTW, even pace on the two hilly laps even though it didn't feel like it!

From the physio.

Mt Cook test run - failed.