Back running again

So last Thursday I got the news I'd been waiting for from my physio Emily, who checked me out on the treadmill and gave me the go-ahead to recommence running. What she was interested in was whether I was coming down too heavily on my good side to compensate for any discomfort in the operated side (in other words, running with a limp) but it appeared that, if I was, it was only very slight, and I promised I'd only run short distances to start with, and stop if I felt too much discomfort in the hip area.

A study day Friday (working from home) gave me the opportunity to take a decent break mid way through the afternoon and get out for my first run in over 7 weeks. With the nights drawing in (wow, that's the kind of thing old people say) opportunities for daylight running when you work full-time are not easy to find. Since I'm at home most Fridays, this will probably become my "long run" day once I've got back into a regular training regime - if I have to do most of my running on a treadmill during the winter months I'm fine with that, but anything further than 5 miles and I'd prefer to do it outside, particularly since the countryside around here is so nice.

Time for a break perhaps?

I'm surprisingly good at putting in a full day when working from home - it helps having a dedicated study room, where I lock myself away with my manuals, calculator and usually a packet of biscuits - and doing a full day is necessary since there's lots to get through each week. However, as long as I get 7 or 8 hours in, I can be flexible about when I do them, and the break from attempting to balance accounts will probably do me the world of good and keep me from going completely bonkers (it's hard work!)

But for the time being, I don't even need to take that long a break, since I'd promised to keep the runs short. I had envisaged doing about 3 miles, but taking my time on this first run, running at recovery pace (10min miles) and probably being on my feet for around half an hour. The ideal first work-out, and it would have gone according to plan if the loop I ran had worked out at 5km as expected. However, it didn't. In fact, it wasn't even a loop. Or at least, it may have been had I stuck with it for long enough, but I didn't much fancy completing an ultra on my first run back.

In fairness, this was my first run since moving to Kirtling, and I'm only really familiar with the roads I need to take me to Cambridge (for work,) or to Haverhill (for Harry.) Running is a really good way to discover how all the local roads link up, and to get to know your local area, and there are going to be some lovely routes for me to train on as I build my mileage back up. For now though, I just needed a short loop, and I relied purely on my sense of direction to find one. Big mistake! As my watch moved on to the 4 mile mark, my body was definitely telling me I'd done enough, but unfortunately I didn't appear to be getting any nearer to home.

Time to log my miles

At 4.37 miles I noticed an information board set back off the road, by a small river, and so I stopped and went to investigate, to see if I could figure out where I was. This was made easy for me because, in addition to some information telling me all about the importance of the river Stour (very interesting I'm sure, but I found it hard to care at the time) there was a map showing the route I'd taken. From this, and with my Garmin, I was able to calculate how far away from home I was. Basically, 4.37miles! So it could actually form part of a big loop, taking in Great Bradley and Thurlow, and would be a really nice long run route, but for now it was just plain annoying. There was no option but to turn and go back the way I'd come - there were some public footpaths and bridleways marked that may have offered a more direct route back but I knew I'd get lost in a field in the middle of no-where within a mile or so, and decided to stick with the roads I'd just come down.

So how had the actual running gone up until this point?

Ah, glad you asked - pretty well actually. In fact, had I got the distance right and completed after 3 miles or so, I'd have been chuffed to bits. It felt tough to start with, even at 10 min mile pace, which confirmed what I had suspected would be the case: ie, that I have lost a lot of fitness in the last 7 weeks. I didn't really hit the gym as much as I should have in my recovery period, and so my cardio-vascular fitness has suffered as a result. A lesson to learn for when I have the other hip done. But no matter - it just meant that the pace felt quite tough to start with, and I just concentrated on trying to run as smoothly as possible and to try to regulate my breathing as much as I could. It gradually got easier, and my pace picked up slightly, meaning I got up to around 9 min mile pace by the 3rd mile. This was more than fast enough, and I felt surprisingly comfortable in terms of the hip - but as I got to around 5km distance, I began to feel some groin discomfort, which steadily grew throughout the next mile. Not entirely unexpected - I've only had one hip done, so I would anticipate the unoperated side will still cause the old problem to flare up, and to start with the pain did seem to be primarily on that side, which is promising I guess. However, by the time I'd completed 4 miles it was more central, and I was more than ready to stop.

What were my immediate aims?

Another good question - and the answer, unsurprisingly for those that know me, was to get back racing asap. As in, the next day at parkrun. And the day after, at the Thurlow 5. Of course, I use the term "racing" quite wrongly, since I had no intention of trying to run quickly at either of them - but I wanted to get round at both without having to stop and walk. Honestly, just that. This was the main reason for doing the training run - I didn't know how realistic it was to go out and run 3.1 miles on the Saturday, let alone 5 on the Sunday, so I wanted to see what I was capable of. Consequently, I was happy with the way the first 3 miles had gone, and I'd managed over 4 before I'd stopped, so both the parkrun and the 5 miler were looking doable. In fact, I only really had one dilemma now. How was I going to get home?

So, how did I get home?

With no phone on me to call for back up (not sure I'd have bothered anyone I knew, but I may have been tempted to find a taxi company!) I had little option but to turn round and begin walking back.
With the groin pain already kicked in, it didn't seem wise to attempt to run home, especially if I intended to run the next couple of days. However, walking takes ages - and by 1 mile, with 3 more to go, I was itching to speed things up a bit! I decided to run the next mile, which I managed with relatively little increase in discomfort, and then walked the next and finished off by running the last 1 and a bit. Reasonably sensible then, although it meant my total mileage was over 6 miles, which was about double what I'd originally intended. And I was in a fair amount of pain when I finally collapsed on the sofa!

Colchester Castle Parkrun

The next morning I needed an early start to get to Colchester for 9am. Obviously there are closer parkruns for me - Cambridge is now my nearest, and Thetford, Nowton Park and Gt Cornard are all still pretty local too - but I wanted to combine the trip with a visit to see my Mum, and Colchester would give me a chance to catch up with some good friends too. As such, I intended to go even if I wasn't up to running, which was just as well because I was still in an amount of discomfort as I set off for the hour or so's drive, unsure if I would actually run or just support. In the event, I decided right at the last minute, walking up the hill to the bandstand, that I'd give it a go, and I'm really glad I did, because everything was absolutely fine.

I set off near the back of the field, with a target in mind of 30mins, which would allow me to run at

Friends told me to take it steady, but
there was never any danger I'd do
anything else - first race back was
all about getting round, nothing more.

around 10min mile pace, which I knew from the previous day's exertions would be okay. Of greatest importance however was not this time target, but to get round in one piece, continuing to work my under-used running muscles, and getting my hip used to the movement of running again. I don't really see this period between now and Christmas as anything other than an opportunity to get back to a decent level of fitness again prior to the second operation - I'm certainly not expecting to get anywhere near my old times - and in some ways this takes a lot of the pressure off: certainly I didn't experience the pre-race nerves I'm so used to, and I guess I'm not going to if I'm deliberately running nearer the back than the front.

That said, I did speed up a bit as I made my way round, much like on the training run, so I finished at nearer to 9min mile pace than 10. Overall time was under 29mins, so job done, and the cake afterwards felt well-earnt!

Thurlow 5

It's important that I keep up with the stretching and rehabilitation exercises set for me, since I won't be fully recovered until 16 weeks after the operation, so I'm only just about half way through at this point. They should also help me as a runner, and I'm sure doing a full set on the Saturday helped aid my recovery for the next day, because I woke up on the Sunday feeling really good. The groin pain had gone, and other than a bit of achiness in the quads, I was raring to go.

I had a sneaky look at the Suffolk Grand Prix standings as I ate my breakfast, and at the race entries for the day, and calculated that just getting round would probably give me a decent score. I've bored you all with this before, but just to recap, it's based on finishing position amongst other Suffolk runners within your age category, and in a relatively small race such as this, there won't actually be that many. (The size of the race this year was further diluted because there were two options, the 5 mile being new, and the more established 10 mile option that I've run on two previous occasions.) You could finish last in your age category, but if there were only 10 of you, that would still give you 91 points. (Thinking about it, on that proviso, you could finish last in the whole race and still pick up the same points!) Discount the runners ahead of you who weren't representing Suffolk clubs, and your score would be even higher.

Working all this out increased my determination to get round - you could argue that it makes a bit of a mockery of the competition, and you may be right, but whereas I might normally feel slightly embarrassed about picking up a decent score despite a poor performance, on this occasion I felt I could justifiably claim whatever points I could get - especially since I'd had to miss the previous two races of the series, and completing 5 miles was going to be quite a big achievement for me at this stage of my recovery. The final race of the series is mid December, and I hope to be back to a slightly quicker pace by then, albeit not at my best - and this will then give me the 5 races I need to post the most competitive final points score I can.

Other duties

In fairness, we started off pretty organised, but
hadn't factored in the last minute rush

Since the Thurlow fixture is the one organised by our own club, I felt I should really do something to help out - particularly since I've run it a couple of times previously, and last year I ran Saxon 5 the same day, so I've never actually volunteered for this one - and it's really the convention to do so at your own club's race. Up until recently I feel I've pulled my weight elsewhere within the club, but due to work pressures I've had to step down from the various roles I held, so I really wanted to do something to help this year. The trick was to find a role that would also allow me to run - so I ended up helping with the baggage drop off. I'm not sure how this may have affected me had I been going for a time - I like to be quite specific about when I eat breakfast, when and how much I drink, when I do my warm up, not to mention visits to the loo, etc, and this pre-race routine can make quite a difference to your performance. On this occasion though, I was happy to get there much earlier than normal, and help take in the bags right up until a few minutes before the start, and as a result I went to the start line unusually chilled out!

The race itself

I say went to the start line, but in fact I deliberately stood some way back - I wasn't going to be troubling the engravers in this particular race! - and I set off nice and steady, wanting to just get under way and settle into a rhythm in the early stages of the race. I keep saying race, but I wasn't really viewing it as such - certainly not in the same way I ordinarily would - and as a result I felt no pressure whatsoever to hit a particular pace or gain positions at any point. I had a vague idea that I might get around 46 minutes, which would match my pace from parkrun the day before, but I wasn't too worried if I didn't - primarily, I wanted to avoid stopping and/or walking at any point, and hopefully - although this was out of my control - avoid any pain or discomfort on the way round.

The route is much more uphill in the first half than it is the second, and whilst it's good to get the tough part done, it didn't make for an easy opening couple of miles. But it was lack of fitness, not hip/groin related issues, that made it tough - and so that was fine, and just required an amount of willpower to overcome. I was pathetically grateful for the water station at the halfway point, and even though I only took a couple of sips, it gave me a much needed boost. This didn't last, however, and at around 3 miles I almost stopped to walk for a bit - but only almost! The guy up ahead of me was alternating between walking and running, and I didn't appear to be gaining on him, which was slightly depressing! When he ran he looked a fairly decent runner, and I wonder if perhaps he's on his way back from injury too. His tactic looked very appealing as I huffed and puffed my way up yet another hill, but I elected to simply bring down the effort and just dig in and keep running.

I was rewarded for this resolve with a nice down hill section, which allowed me to actually increase pace even though I'd eased off the effort a bit. This must have spurred me on because, looking at my mile splits, I can see a big improvement in the latter part of the race:

Mile 1: 9m22
Mile 2: 9m16
Mile 3: 9m03
Mile 4: 8m02
Mile 5: 8m12

So a finish time of 44mins dead. I'm not going to say "almost literally dead" because I'm pretty sure I've used that joke in a previous blog post, and it probably wasn't all that funny then either. But suffice to say I was pretty pleased with that. Ok, it's 13 mins off a pb for the distance, but I feel like I'm starting again, and so the next time I race a 5 mile, I'll be comparing it with this new post operation time, and looking to see a gradual improvement. Best news of all, absolutely no groin discomfort whatsoever - why that should be I don't know, but I'll go with it.

The results

I've just looked at the official results properly for the first time, to calculate my Suffolk GP points. The fact that I've only just done so, whereas normally I'd be anxiously awaiting the email on race day, confirms that this was a very different race-day experience for me; still a rewarding one - just a lot more relaxed. Possibly, with work pressures growing, this is a healthy thing for me. I talked in my previous blog about how I can use running as an escape valve, but I rarely run without a demanding target, and I then beat myself up if I fail to achieve it. So sometimes it can be counter-productive, adding to the stress levels rather than reducing them. I had an interesting chat in the cafe after parkrun with some good friends, when we discussed whether we actually enjoy running or not - I declared that I enjoy racing rather than the training, and it's certainly true that it's race-day that I've missed the most over the last 7 weeks: hence why I did two in two days over this last weekend. But I think maybe somewhere along the way I've forgotten why I first fell in love with running: and it's not the first time I've reflected on that fact in my blog posts over the last couple of years.

So it may be that this operation - and stop me if I become overly philosophical here - will actually end up being a good thing for my overall understanding of why I run, and the importance of it. I have certainly accepted that, for the time being at least, and quite probably until some time after the 2nd operation, I will be unable to get anywhere near my old times. It won't stop me trying to get nearer - I look at the last couple of miles at Thurlow and am already plotting an 8min mile paced parkrun in a couple of weeks - but I think it may help me to enjoy my running a bit more, as I take my time to improve gradually, rather than aiming for a new pb every week.

This is a provisional list, and needs filling
out a bit. But the essentials are there.

But despite this, clearly I will always remain competitive - it's in my nature - and so back to the results. Position within age category - 6th, which sounds pretty decent, but there were only 7 of us! No matter, with only 3 of the 5 MV40s ahead of me running for Suffolk clubs, this means a points score of 97. It means I'll move up to 4th in my category, so well worth doing the race for that reason, although with only one race left, the top 3 are too far ahead for me to catch, no matter how well Waveney 10 may or may not go. Next year, with my 2nd operation probably only ruling me out of the first fixture, I intend to have a real go at the competition again, and as always the fixtures will undoubtedly form the backbone of my racing calendar.

And I do intend to get some structured training in place next year, to identify some other key races, to chose some PBs to target - it's part of what makes me tick. But, bottom line, if I can run without pain once this is all done, I'll be very grateful to everyone who's helped fix me, and I'll appreciate the fact I can run that much more. Running in discomfort for two and a bit years has no doubt eroded a lot of the enjoyment for me - how could it not? - but I think there's more to it than that, and I intend to keep a closer eye on this as I progress.


I never really understood people who ran purely for enjoyment rather than for times, but I think perhaps I do a bit more now. Certainly, for the moment, I'm just very happy to be back.

Missing my Escape Valve

Not long since my last blog, but I felt inspired to post again having read an excellent article in the latest edition of Runner's World magazine, about Andy Baddeley and his battle with depression.

For those who don't know who Andy is, I should give a brief resume of his running career. He's represented team GB at numerous major championships - he's been a Commonwealth, European and World Championship finalist, made the final of the Beijing Olympics and also competed at London 2012, as a 1500 metre specialist. Although he set a new 1500m PB that year, he had already begun to think about a move up in distance to 5km, and indeed set his PBs for 3km and 5km in 2012 too. On Saturday 11th August 2012, he rocked up at Bushy Park, and ran 5km in 13m48, which remains the parkrun World Record.

"I appreciate you just ran under 14mins, but if you forgot your barcode I'm afraid I'll still have to put you down as Unknown"

So all in all, a bit of a running hero of mine. But then, some time in late 2012, he began to suffer from injury problems, and has barely competed since. His last competitive race was back in September 2013, indeed he posted a sub 4 min mile, showing just how good he was even when not in peak condition: but nothing since. And this long period away from the sport he loves - and indeed, the sport that has been his job for so long - has led him into depression.

He wrote a blog about this on his website back in May 2015, which I hadn't known about until I read about it this week in Runner's World. It's well worth a read - incredibly insightful and very honest. (There's a link at the foot of this post)

He deals with how hard it's been for him, being unable to compete when that's what he does for a living, and for him a lot of the problem stems from a perceived loss of identity. When people ask him what he does, he still says "I'm a runner" - but he states that there have only been a handful of days over the last 3 years when he feels that's actually been an accurate description. However, in the magazine article. he also states he understands that being unable to run can seriously affect amateur athletes too, of all levels.

I find this particularly interesting because one of the main reasons I love running is because I find it offers a great release from the pressures of every day life. I'm not sure I can say that I suffer from depression - if so, I've certainly never had it diagnosed - but I do have low periods, occasionally very low, and on those days a run can feel like a life saver. Running allows me to set myself specific goals, and work hard towards them, giving me a clear focus to get through difficult times. And, without fail, no matter how bad a day feels, it always feels a bit better when I get back home from a run.

Therefore, knowing I would be unable to run for a fair few weeks, I had concerns that I may struggle a bit with my mental wellbeing following the operation. I didn't think not being able to run would lead to depression, but I was worried that if other factors were getting me down, I wouldn't be able to run them off the way I normally would - my usual escape valve was not going to be available to me.

What do you mean, go for a run? I'm absolutely fine...

And, despite initially being quite surprised at how well I'd coped, unfortunately my concerns do now seem to be proving well-founded, and I find myself struggling to get through each day at the moment. In addition to some personal issues I won't bore you with, I've been finding my new job - and specifically, the studying that runs alongside it - much harder than I anticipated. It's taking all my time - long days and working on it most evenings too - and I frequently question whether I'm really cut out for such a demanding position. I won't give up, because it's a great opportunity, and nor am I complaining, but I am seriously doubting my ability, and I know I would feel so much better about myself if I could get out and run each day. Even if just for a couple of miles, which is probably all I'd have time to do at the moment.

This week has seen a bit of a set-back in my post operation progress - the first really, in fairness - but not for any physical reason. I had to rearrange my physio appointment due to an unexpected work commitment, and unfortunately there was no new slot available until 9 days later. The relevance being that this was to be the appointment where I was checked out on the treadmill, and - if all went well - given the go-ahead to recommence running. Despite huge temptation to just start running anyway - after all, I've gone past the 6 week period required to ensure the labram has healed - I've made the sensible decision to wait until the new appointment, and until I'm officially given permission. No point taking a risk at this stage, and setting myself back. And it's just one of those things - but it just seems like a real kick in the teeth at a time when I really need to run!

Running has always given me a sense of self-worth, and an often much needed confidence boost, and in addition it has been at the centre of my social life too for the last few years. For these reasons, and many others besides, I can't wait until my newly arranged appointment next Thursday when - fingers' crossed - my physio gives me the green light. This is only 3 days before the Thurlow 5, which I may or may not now run: I'll probably go for a run on Thursday if allowed, and another on Friday, and then see how I feel. I would expect a certain amount of soreness in the hip joint, but it may well be the lack of fitness that proves to be the bigger issue.

I certainly don't expect to be particularly fast - but if I think I can complete the 5 miles, I will - and it'll be great to get back out there again. For all kinds of reason.

NB: I've only been out of running for 6 weeks. This is nothing compared to what many others have gone through or are currently going through. For anyone reading this who is currently struggling with injury or illness, mental or otherwise, I wish you a speedy recovery. Andy Baddeley still hopes to make the Rio Olympics next year. And I can't recommend his blog highly enough: Andrew Baddeley's Blog

The Operation

For as long as I’ve been blogging, I’ve been mentioning the ongoing issue I’ve had with groin pain and general discomfort, which I first noticed back in June 2013. It took a long time before I ended up under the care of Mr Khanduja, a consultant in Cambridge who specialises in knee and hip surgery, but I was confident as soon as I was referred to him that we were finally getting somewhere – he certainly appears to be highly regarded in his particular field.

Even with his expert care, it still took 10 months from my first appointment with him before I finally had the first of two operations that should – fingers crossed – finally sort out the problem. But in that 10 months, I had X-rays, an Ultrasound, an MRI scan, Hip Manipulation – and all this led to the conclusion that the pain has been caused by a problem in the hip area, and that there was a need for a hip arthroscopy on each side to confirm and then rectify the issue.

What happened in Surgery?

For a start, we needed the camera to confirm the exact nature of the problem, and so it was good news to discover there was a clear cause. I’m unsure if “bone spur” is the correct term (I’m going to go with it because it sounds like I know what I’m talking about,) but essentially there was too much bone at the top of my femur, where it fits into the hip joint – this would have formed many years ago whilst I was still growing, and is most likely the result of a sporty childhood: I used to do a lot of gymnastics when I was a kid, and chatting afterwards, the nurse felt this may well have been the cause. Anyway, whether or not this was the reason is irrelevant – the point is, this excess of bone then became a problem in later life when I took up running, and eventually resulted in a labral tear, as a result of the friction.

The labram is an area of cartilage that lines the hip socket and a tear here can lead to groin pain, so it fits perfectly with what I’ve been experiencing. The physio who first referred me to Mr Khanduja had thought the problem may be a sportman’s henia, and a google search for “labral tear” does state the symptoms of the two conditions to be very similar. The physio did say to me at the time that even if it wasn’t that, then the referral to this particular consultant would definitely result in the problem being resolved. I’m now very confident he was correct – and it transpires that keyhole surgery on this condition has only been possible in recent years, with very few surgeons capable of carrying out the operation, so I’ve been very fortunate in some regards. The operation took just over 2 hours, and involved two “fixes” – firstly to repair the tear, which involved putting in an anchor in, and secondly to shave off the offending bit of bone, to stop it happening again. There is an assumption that exactly the same situation exists in the other hip, hence the need for a second operation later on to correct this one too.

Mr Khanduja did mention to me that the hip joint wasn’t in great shape in general, but he seemed confident that what he’d done would fix the problem – of course, the difficulty is that we won’t really know even once everything’s healed up, because the other hip will then need doing, and we need to allow at least 16 weeks for the full recovery of the right hip before we can do the left. And because the discomfort is central (deferred from both hips) there’s unlikely to be any obvious improvement until both hips have had the procedure completed. However, given that a significant problem was found – and fixed – then I have to assume that it will do the trick.

The rehabilitation

Well that could have gone a bit better

I’m writing this almost 6 weeks after my right hip has been operated on, and it all seems to have gone very well. After the first couple of days, when I was in an amount of pain and needed the codeine tablets I was sent home with, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I recovered – I was done using crutches within 2 weeks, and experienced very little discomfort in general. I mentioned in my last post that I was moving in to a new property two days before the operation, and the priority was to get everything heavy moved into the correct position beforehand – but in fact I found I was mobile enough the day after to continue to get the house sorted, and the two weeks rest I had before starting my new job was plenty – I was absolutely fine to drive and work with no problems at all, although attempting to mow the lawn was probably slightly too ambitious...

I was given a set of exercises that I needed to follow, 3 times a day, to ensure I regained full movement in the hip joint as soon as possible. The first week’s routine involved isometric exercises and some gentle stretches, to work the thigh muscles and the glutes in particular. To work the hip abductors I had to use a belt around my thighs and push against this, working the muscles but restricting movement since any external rotation of the hip needed to be avoided for at least 6 weeks. Week two added in some internal rotation movements, and was followed by the first outpatient physiotherapy appointment.

My physio, Emily, is a runner herself, which is exactly what you want when you’re on the road to recovery – someone who understands how keen you are to get back out there. She showed me some additional exercises, and two weeks later I was back again to have even more added to my programme, which now takes longer than most of the training runs I used to do! Each type of stretch and movement has become gradually easier over time, suggesting the rehabilitation is going well. As an added and unexpected bonus, I think I understand how to stretch effectively far better than I did before – having a trained physio showing you certainly helps – and I intend to dedicate more time every day to this important aspect of overall fitness and wellbeing, even once I’m fully recovered.

When can I run again?

Best news of all is that I am allowed to commence running again next week. This is much earlier than I originally thought, although I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be able to achieve when I do get back out there, since it will only be a matter of time before I need to stop again for the second operation. I imagine it’s going to take a while to build up from 6 weeks off – I had intended to use the gym regularly in the meantime, but my new job has taken up nearly all of my time, and I’ve only been a few times. Today for the first time I tried out the cross-trainer, and was surprised at just how unfit I appear to have become in such a short time. The extra stone and a bit I’ve put on isn’t helping either! I can’t believe I’ll get back to proper race pace before it’s time for the next operation, but it seems to me a good idea to go into the second op having rebuilt as much fitness as possible, so that once I’ve had the other hip sorted, I can get back quicker – a much better idea than simply abandoning all exercise until both are done, which would mean having to start running again after at least 23 weeks out - a much harder task!

I wasn't sure how much to push the music degree - I think
I got the balance just about right

I’m also hugely relieved that the initial recovery was so quick, since it means I can pretty much accept any date for the second operation – there doesn’t appear to be any need to take two weeks off afterwards, let alone the four to six week period they officially recommend. Knowing I was able to move about quite comfortably within only 2 or 3 days of the procedure means that, whilst I shall still book some days off to be on the safe side, I’m confident I’ll be able to hobble along to any tutorials or meetings, and therefore not miss out on anything important. I’m very fortunate that the graduate programme is open to anyone with a degree, regardless of age (and indeed, regardless of what subject that degree was in, since mine is in music, which is not an obvious fit!) – I’m one of the oldest of the new recruits, but I still have plenty of years left to build a good career there, with successful completion of the course guaranteeing a managerial position just for starters.

The course is hard work though, and it’s taken all my time and effort over the last few weeks to keep on top of it. This has no doubt helped divert my attention from the fact that I can’t run – on particularly tough days I do desperately miss not being able to pull on the trainers and run off some anxieties and worries, but in the main I’m not sure I’d have had the time most days for any kind of decent mileage. 

This situation will no doubt ease as I get more used to the new position, and hopefully by the time of my next blog, I’ll have had the go-ahead to get back out running again – if so, I know I’ll find the time to do so.

Running with the Elite - the Ipswich Twilight 5km

Having fallen a bit behind with my blogging, the following was written a couple of weeks back, and a more recent blog will follow shortly....

You have to believe in yourself if you're going to achieve your best. So long as you don't cross over the line and become annoyingly over-confident, then I truly believe this is a really positive attitude and is a major factor in racing well.

A couple of years ago, I entered an "elite" 5km race at the Bury track, which was for anyone able to go sub 20mins. There was no official qualification required, you just chose on the night which race to enter - the elite or the open. I'd only gone under 20 a couple of times at that point, but I felt I'd probably go a bit quicker on a proper running track, so took the plunge and put my name down. Things went badly, I didn't get under 20mins, and ended up last. I found it tough to deal with the disappointment, and decided at the time that I wouldn't ever enter an "elite" race again - or at least, not until I was good enough to properly belong in one.

Fast forward to Friday 14th August 2015 - and the start line of the Ipswich Twilight 5km, for "elite" runners! 

Qualifying

This time you did actually need to submit a qualifying time from a race in 2015 - the criteria being sub 20mins for a 5km, or sub 40mins for a 10km. I think I've mentioned before in a previous blog post that they wouldn't accept parkrun results, meaning that I spent most of the year thinking I wouldn't be able to compete it this one, since there are very few non-parkrun, UKA certified 5kms in which to try to get the time. I tried on 4 separate occasions to get the sub 40min 10km instead, but whilst I've chipped away at my PB over the last few months, it's still nearly a minute out. The Kevin Henry 5k series I race in does include one race - our club's home fixture, the Kedington 5km - that is properly certified, and therefore would count, so I was chuffed to bits to record a time of 19m38 a few weeks before. I was in!

Operation

And then I was out - or at least, I was for a time, since the original date of my first operation was only a few weeks before, not allowing enough time for recovery. Fortunately, they decided to change the date of the operation, and whilst this was initally a bit frustrating, in fact it's all worked out really well - for reasons I'll bore you with later - and as an added bonus, it meant I could still race Ipswich. So, back in, and really looking forward to it.

Slowing up - the ELY 5km

Ely is best known for its Cathedral. According to its official
webpage, other good reasons to visit are that it's quite close
to Cambridge and Newmarket. And only an hour from London.

My last post covered the Littleport 10km, which - although a marginal PB - was not the sub 40 I really wanted. It was clear that the discomfort was now significantly affecting my running, and this was confirmed the following Thursday when I competed in the KH fixture at Ely. Another 5km race (my 101st since I started running!) and on a new course which was fast and flat. I went off pretty well (first mile around 6mins,) felt good until halfway - even thought I may be on for a sub 19min at one point - before the wheels fell off completely, and in the end I didn't quite break 20mins. The discomfort played its part, but so too the lack of training. Suffice to say, I felt pretty down afterwards,

International Racing (sort of)

Confusingly, there is another parkrun in Wales in a place
called Tredegar, so this particular parkrun is known as Newport.
It's become a very popular event, in a great location.

The next day we travelled down to Wales, to stay with Charlotte's sister Victoria and her partner Mark for the weekend. On the agenda was a parkrun at Tredegar House, Newport - we'd done it about a year ago and I was keen to try to improve on my time. Unusually, I set myself a realistic target for this one - just try to get under 20mins, nothing more than that. The course was harder than I'd remembered, but I dug in and just managed it - and I was pretty pleased with a top 20 finish in a field of over 400: like most parkruns, it's grown tremendously in the last year. 

Mark is steadily improving, and wasn't far behind - it's fair to say we've extended our friendly rivalry to multiple disciplines, and whilst I may have won this one, he was marginal victor later on in our back garden cricket match, and then proceeded to thrash me at Fifa on the Xbox. I did regain a little pride later in the evening during trivial pursuits, being a cheese ahead before we all lost the will to live. We've now embarked on a season long Fantasy Football League competition - this is going to run and run!

A mention too for Mei, Charlotte's 12 year old relative, whose sprint finish at parkrun was pretty impressive. Although a little way off his PB, this was then put into perspective when we realised he was in clear need of his inhaler at the end - yet he hadn't let this stop him. Maintaining relaxed and controlled breathing in a 5km race is hard enough - I can't imagine having to battle against asthma on the way round, and it's this kind of determination in a runner that really impresses me.

Some non-running stuff (skip it if you like)

So the day of the Twilight 5km was also my last day working at Natural England. This has been a great temporary position, which I've done since January. Thanks to Charlotte's support, and prior to that the help of my mum, I've been able to step away from full-time coach driving, which I did for more years than I care to remember, and to pursue a new career in office work. Step one was to go part time, and study for a diploma. Armed with this, I then began applying for all sorts of great positions, and found no-one would take me on - the qualification didn't seem to count for much without some experience to go alongside. I joined numerous temping agencies, and accepted that I may need to reduce my expectations - I was no longer after the dream job: just any job would do! 

Amongst other opportunities, I applied to get onto a Civil Service Graduate Scheme. This involved an initial application followed by two stages on online tests (numeracy and literacy, verbal reasoning, etc) - and if you got through all this, you'd be invited to a two-day assessment centre for the final stage. I began the application process in November, but with over 13000 applicants fighting for only 250 places, it seemed wise to keep looking elsewhere!

Finally, in January, an agency found me a position as an administrator at Natural England. Poorly paid, but promising some much needed office experience. I couldn't have given up the coach driving (which is relatively well-paid) to take this position without Charlotte's help - we both saw it as a step back to (hopefully) take two steps forward, but it was a bit of a gamble financially, and I desperately hoped the experience I would gain would enable to me to get a better-paid job in the near future.

The job itself has been interesting, and has certainly helped me become much more computer literate, and to learn how to organise my time/workload etc. The work-life balance is great - I've loved flexi-time in particular, and it's meant I've been able to arrange work around the things that really matter (Charlotte, Harry, racing, etc!) In March, having got through the online test stages, and following a very intense couple of days at the assessment centre, I found out that I had been accepted on the graduate scheme, to start in September. Suddenly, everything was working out perfectly - the position at Natural England was open-ended, so I knew I could continue to work there in the meantime, with a great job to look forward to. The graduate scheme pays pretty well from the outset, and at the end of the 4 year course, I should have a managerial position, together with a host of vocational qualifications and a new degree - and most importantly, for the first time in my life, instead of just having a job that pays the bills, I'll have a career, with prospects.

And the icing on the cake - it's in the same government offices in Cambridge that I've been working in these last few months, so I already know the building, can keep my gym membership (which will be crucial for my post-operation rehabilitation) and will still see my old Natural England colleagues around the place too.

We didn't quite get everything moved into
place before the operation,
but I managed to remain useful afterwards...

So having now worked my last day in my old job, I had almost a month off - but it promised to be pretty busy, starting with a week's holiday in France, followed by, the day after we got back, a house move. This wasn't planned, but our landlady needed her house back, so we didn't have a lot of choice. We found a really nice place not far away, in fact in a slightly better location for our respective new workplaces. Due back from Lyon on the Monday, we only had a couple of days that would work for a move date - either the Tuesday or the Wednesday - since the Thursday was the date for my first hip operation, and I was expected to be on crutches for a good couple of weeks afterwards, which wouldn't be ideal for moving house!
Those two weeks would hopefully be enough time for me to recover sufficiently to begin my new job 10th September (they recommend 4-6 weeks off work, but 2 would have to be enough!) I should probably mention at this point, as I tidy up this post and get ready to publish it, that I've had the operation and all has gone well - more next time though.

The Ipswich Twilight 5km

A race with some amazing runners,
but we all got the same medal -
and it's immediately become
one of the most valued I have

So back to the race - and what an amazing experience. After the 5k race, there was also to be a 10k, which attracted around 600 local runners, but our race only had about 100 entrants pre-race - and only 84 of those lined up at the start line. There were just 4 of us from Haverhill Running Club - and I think we were all a bit taken aback when a small group of additional runners joined us, conspicuous in that they had their names on their vests, rather than race numbers like the rest of us. It transpired that these runners had been invited by the organisers, Ipswich Jaffa (who, as always, put on a very impressive event) - invited in order to raise the profile of the race in its first year, since they were all top class athletes. Their names were announced to the crowd, together with lists of their achievements - and to give an idea of the strength of these runners, I've mentioned the podium finishers (with times) below. For anyone interested, you can find more about their achievements on the excellent thepowerof10 website

1. Ryan McLeod      14m10             1. Jessica Coulson   15m56
2. Andy Heyes         14m12             2. Lauren Howarth  16m26
3. Chris Thompson  14m15             3. Gemma Kersey    16m29


So with a mixture of anticipation and fear, we set off, and it immediately felt like a fast race - and that was without even trying to keep up with the leaders. The route was as fast and flat as they had promised, along closed roads and pavements, and with literally no excuses. Which was exactly what I needed - this would give me a true indication of my current level. And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised - much like at the parkrun the weekend before, I had limited my expectations to sub 20mins, and so managing to get just under 19m30 was much better than I'd hoped. Far more important than the time, though, was that I'd been able to close things before my operation with a decent run, in a great event, and with a smile on my face. Charlotte and Harry were there to support me, and we stayed to cheer on the 10k runners as they set off, before later learning that the other 3 HRC runners -
Sian-Marie, Siobhan and Mary Ann - had collected the 2nd female team award. A good night all round.

Near the back of the field (no.30) but an experience I wouldn't have missed for anything - and I hope to be back again next year.

So, a far more rewarding experience than my previous attempt to run with the elite - well worth taking the risk - and a good memory to bank as a I move into a period of non-running. I'm looking forward to getting through my operations, regaining fitness, and hopefully qualifying to try again next year.

  

Littleport 10km - the inquest!

Firstly, a gratifying spike in readership numbers again recently, so a grateful "welcome" to anyone who has recently begun following my blog - and as always, a "congratulations" to those of you who have been in it for the long haul and continue to plough through on a regular basis.

I'm not entirely sure why numbers have gone up. I push the blog in a few places - facebook, google plus and twitter, and then in addition I guess people may stumble across it whilst doing a search on the internet for something completely different. It may be that my last title ("What I talk about when I should be working") cropped up in search results when people were trying to find out about Murakami's excellent "What I talk about when I talk about running." My title was of course a nod to this book, which is a favourite amongst runners, and highly recommended.

Sorry, not this kind of racing....

It may also be partially explained because I used the hashtag "racingblog" when posting the link to twitter, and this was picked up on and "favourited" by a prolific and well-followed tweeter from the world of Nascar racing (who clearly didn't bother to read it, although who am I to criticise him for that!) So with apologies to anyone expecting an exciting blog about high-octane racing - let me tell you instead all about......

The Littleport 10km

So although I raced twice over the weekend of 25th-26th July, I decided to use the parkrun on the Saturday purely as a warm-up for this 10km on the Sunday morning, which was my A-race for the month, and as I talked about (extensively) in my last post, my big chance to go under the magic 40 minute barrier.

So did I get sub 40?

Erm - no! I talked in my last blog post about my planned strategy, which was to set off at, and hold, 6m30 pace. To this end, on Saturday morning I decided I'd try the same pacing at parkrun, and see how it felt. The answer - very comfortable, and it made a nice change not to go off fast and try to hang on, but to take it relatively steady and push on as the race progressed. In fact, the end result - sub 19m30 - wasn't too far off what I'd normally get at Great Cornard, but it was a much more enjoyable way of achieving it!



Toe striking on lap one

Toe striking at the finish too!

It felt strange not trying to win - something I've managed a handful of times now at Gt Cornard - but in fact, whilst I set off in about 12th or 13th place and gained a few positions throughout the race, I was never in with a chance of victory anyway, nor would I have been had I gone for it from the outset - there were a number of much quicker runners there, and in the end my finishing position of 7th place is probably about where I'd have come anyway. Well, maybe 5th, with a following wind. But no higher certainly.


What the experience gave me, as I'd hoped it would, was plenty of confidence that my race tactic for the next day was sound - 6m30 seemed very achievable, and if I could maintain this for the majority of the 10km and then push on for that last mile, then sub 40mins was definitely on the cards. Also particularly pleasing was that, judging from the photos, I seem to have maintained form throughout - it's not often I find two decent pictures from the same race!

 So What went wrong at Littleport?



Well for a start, despite having felt pretty good on the Saturday, the next day my old groin/stomach problem came back with a vengence, and I spent the Sunday morning feeling pretty uncomfortable, and unsure right up until the start as to whether or not I'd be able to race at all. Of course, pre-race nerves always add to situation, and often when I finally get going it's not as bad as I thought it was. Almost all runners suffer from this to some extent, hence the toilet queues before every race!

On this occasion, however, I did continue to feel pretty grim throughout. It's hard to say exactly what difference it makes to the run, except that at no point was I able to settle into a comfortable rhythm, which I'd hoped to be able to do for the first part of the race at least. The best way I can describe it is that it's like running with a bad stomach ache, which leaves you feeling sluggish, unable to relax and not particularly inclined to work hard. Consequently, even 6m30 pace felt tough.

In part, this was also due to the fact that the course wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. It's unlike me not to extensively research a race route beforehand, but for some reason I had just assumed this was all road and all flat - probably because I knew runners tended to get PBs here - and it wasn't until we reached the venue that I realised that it started and finished on grass, which is never great for a strong final push.

Chatting to some fellow club runners who had done the race a few times before, it then became apparent that the organisers had managed to incorporate the only hill in Littleport into the route - and it was an off-road hill, to make matters even worse! This meant that the fourth mile was going to be a little slower, if I kept to my usual tactic of maintaining even effort rather than even pace. Obviously on a circular route (ie where the start and finish are in the same place) then what goes up must come down, and so it didn't necessarily mean I wouldn't get my target time, because there should also be parts where I could go a bit quicker than planned - but suddenly it had become a different type of race to the one I was expecting. Not checking the route beforehand - a rookie mistake!

Going for Gold

No, not that Going for Gold. Which, for those who never had the
pleasure, was a European themed Quiz programme where contestants
from various non-English speaking countries had to somehow
translate questions posed in Henry Kelly's broad Irish accent,
 and yet still invariably beat the Brits to the correct answer. 

Anyway, at least I found all this out before we set off - so I adjusted accordingly, and ran the first couple of miles at 6m35 pace, before losing a bit more on mile 3, and then mile 4, with the hill, was unsurprisingly a bit slower again. The elevation came back down gradually over mile 5, and this should have set me up for a decent last third of the race, but I only managed to get back down to my original target pace, not quicker as I needed it to be by this stage.

I had approached the race with my usual Gold, Silver and Bronze targets, and although by the halfway point I knew Gold (sub 40) wasn't going to happen, I was desperately keen to at least hit Silver (sub 41.) If you're going for sub 40 and you don't manage it, you at least want to get 40 something! Even with this new easier target in mind, I still went into the final mile needing to significantly up the pace, having lost way too much time in the first half of the race.

The longest mile?

I can honestly say that last mile was the hardest mile I have ever raced in my life. A combination of groin pain, disappointment and general fatigue (no doubt due to a woeful lack of training) all meant that physically and mentally I had to work much harder than I normally would to pick up the time needed. I had to keep telling myself that sub 41 was worth going for, when in reality I was gutted that I'd missed the chance of sub 40 yet again. In the end, with a final mile of 6m17 - which, given the effort I thought I was putting in, feels like it should have been  soooo much faster! - I recorded a time of 40m57. I probably should have been much happier, having taken another 13secs off my PB, but I had wanted so much more.

As expected, loads of other runners got PBs too - I'm biased of course, but particularly impressive was Charlotte's improvement, taking a massive 1m45 off her previous best time. All the more notable since the previous morning's parkrun had also yielded a new PB, with a new 5km best of 22m14. She's flying at the moment, and I suspect when I begin running again after my operations that I'll need to ask her to slow down a bit when we train together.

What's happened since Littleport?

In terms of training - absolutely nothing! I was more shattered after Littleport than I can ever remember being at the end of short distance race - and I was in a fair degree of discomfort for a good two or three days afterwards. Add to that an unusual lack of enthusiasm for anything running related - even my latest copy of Runners World magazine remains unopened - and I haven't resumed running since. I think it's because I'd really built up the race as my chance to get a sub 40, which would have been the perfect way to sign off for a while - and although I have 3 more 5kms to race before the operation, for some reason I can't seem to get particularly excited about them. The discomfort has lingered too - yes, it's dissipated, but not as much as usual - despite not having run for nearly 10 days now - and that leaves me less inclined to pull on my trainers and go for even a gentle run. As I type this part of the blog, I'm about to go to our club's weekly speedwork session, and I'm in two minds as to whether or not to bother. I'm actually really nervous about going - a new experience, since normally I really look forward to these workouts - but I'm just not sure if I'm going to be able to manage it. The good thing about these Tuesday evening sessions is that you can chose how much effort you put in - so you only have to work as hard as you feel capable of. I nearly always give 100%, but I think perhaps not tonight!

Post-script - Wednesday morning

Still not quite writing this in diary form, although it may well be the way I go in the future, since I like the idea of tracing my running-related thoughts throughout the week. But having almost finished the blog at the end of the last chunk, I wanted to add that I did in fact go to training - and it went pretty well. The session was paired efforts - in other words, you have a partner relying on you to do your best - exactly what I needed, otherwise I doubt I would have given my all. So our coach for the evening, Andy, created a figure of eight course - 400 metres round the track, and 400 metres across a fairly undulating grassy area behind it. One of each pair (runner 1)  had to run the track, then hand over to their partner (runner 2) who ran the off-track part, before handing back over again. Each of us had to complete 3 laps, with your recovery time in between each lap being the amount of time it took your partner to do their bit.



I wasn't entirely sure I could manage a fourth....

Having done all this, we then had a short break before repeating the exercise, but this time changing over so that runner 2 ran the track part, and runner 1 the hilly part. Again, 3 laps each, before another break, and then finally switching back again for a final set - but this time, 4 laps. And yes, that additional one really killed!

As I mentioned before, you get out of these sessions exactly what you put in, and having someone else relying on me meant I put in plenty of effort, and found it incredibly tough as a result. My total mileage for the session, even including warm-up and cool-down, only came to 3.5 miles. But I managed to keep below 6min mile pace for (nearly) all of the laps, and afterwards the feeling was fantastic - clearly I hadn't lost as much fitness over the last few days as I thought, although I have gained a fair few pounds over the last couple of months and I'm definitely aware of this when I run, as well as when I look in the mirror! This weight gain is from a combination of slipping off the diet and not running so much - after 12-16 weeks of being unable to run after the operation, I dread to think how big I'll be, and clearly sticking to the diet will become even more important.


Ah, not quite as bad as I thought then....

Coming up Next

Charlotte and I followed up this training session by going for a gentle 5km recovery run the next morning. It wasn't the first morning recently that I'd set the alarm for 6am, but it was the first time for a while that I'd managed to avoid the snooze button! Going for an easy run the day after a hard training session or race allows your body to ease off any aches and pains, stretches out the muscles a bit without working them too hard, and better prepares you for the next hard effort.

For us, that's later today (Thurs) when we take on the next in the Kevin Henry Series of 5km races. I'm looking forward to this one - it's a new course, the home race for Ely Runners, who only joined the series last year and are hosting a race for the first time in 2015. Apparently being run on an old WW2 airfield, it's going to be completely flat, on a good surface, and therefore offers PB potential for those in shape to go for one. That's not me - I was training harder, weighing less and was generally in much better shape when I was going sub 19mins, so this seems unlikely this time around. However, I do have a KH best to aim for - 19m36 at Kedington last time around - and on a much easier course, this really should be achieveable.

The day after will be a rest day, as we travel across to Wales to stay with Charlotte's sister Victoria and her partner Mark, who like us is a keen parkrunner. Therefore on Saturday morning we'll be re-visiting Tredegar Park, together with Mei, who is getting steadily faster week in week out. Mei, by the way, is Charlotte's first cousin once removed - (and yes, I did have to look that up!) - in other words, the son of one of her cousins. Both Mark and I are way too competitive and we'll be keen to race hard against each other before spending the rest of the day relaxing with a big family BBQ.

The last time we visited Wales we ran at Tredegar for the first time, and I was pleased to get just over the 20min mark, but remember thinking it was a fast course that I'd like to run again. Since I now tend to break 20mins for most 5kms, I hope to be able to do the same this weekend. This is going to be my 72nd parkrun, but my last for some time, so I'm looking forward to making the most of it. After that, it's just a few days until what will be my last race, the Ipswich Twilight 5km, which I'll no doubt bore you with in a future post.

I'm so pleased that I made the decision to go to running club this week, helping me rediscover my motivation before these last few races, meaning that - hopefully - I can finsih off with a couple of decent performances, and a strong desire to recover quickly and get back out running again.

What I talk about when I should be working

Less than a month now until the first of my two hip operations, and (with apologies to Mr Murakami for the title) a short post outlining my current thoughts on what's on the horizon.

Is it really necessary?

Every time I wonder if I really need these operations, I'm reminded that I do. I mentioned a few races in my last post - Thursday's race at Girton was a little uncomfortable, but I didn't suffer much at all on either the Friday (sports day) or Sunday (Ekiden), and Tuesday's training run was fine, nothing hurt, and I couldn't wait to run again the next day. Wednesday's run was fine to start with, but from about halfway the old discomfort came back again, and it was a tough last couple of miles. I could easily keep going like this - I can manage short distance races fine, and also do a bit of training in between, providing I don't try to do too much - but ultimately, I'm not going to improve a great deal unless I can get back to a higher mileage, higher intensity training schedule.

A slightly tortured golf analogy

I remember when I tried to take up golf a few years back - I never really got the hang of it, but I used to go the local driving range and do my best to improve. Prominently displayed in large lettering on a sign at the range was a quote attributed to Albert Einstein - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."



Oh. Fair enough.

I just did a bit of research on this quote, since I wasn't sure I'd remembered it word for word. As is often the case when you research something on the internet, you end up more confused than before you began - I'm now not entirely sure if it was Einstein, or Ben Franklin, or Mark Twain - but it doesn't much matter, because it's a great quote and it really made me think at the time about why I wasn't getting anywhere with my golf swing. Clearly, I was doing something wrong, and then just practising doing something wrong again and again. To improve, I first needed to understand how to hit a golf ball, before then practising hard to attempt to perfect it. So how did I manage this? The answer - a series of expensive golf lessons with the club pro - obviously, the reason why they displayed the quote so prominently at the range. 

Happy with that one. Trousers may have been a mistake though

I learnt a valuable lesson from all this - I have no talent whatsoever for golf, and it didn't matter how much money I threw at it, I was never going to be able to play at a decent level. To be fair, I improved enough to be able to enjoy playing a bit more, and didn't spend quite as much as I used to on replacement balls - but I could still easily get through a new pack each round. Lakes and rivers add not only to the aesthetic beauty of a golf course, but unfortunately also to the cost of a game!

The theory though was sound - acquire the knowledge first, before... practice, practice, practice. I think subsquently the reason I never managed to lower my handicap was not purely down to lack of natural talent - although this was undeniably a major factor - but it was also because I just didn't have the time (or money) to be able to play every week, and once a month wasn't often enough to get the hang of it.

Running - an easy sport?

The beauty of running is, as I've mentioned before, that it doesn't require a great deal of skill. I know some people who group runners into two categories - those that they feel are inherently talented, and those that they feel get there by dint of hard work alone. I'm not sure I agree with this - certainly, the runners I know who appear to be the most talented (ie quickest, and with the best running styles) I also happen to know work very hard in their training too. It's similar to that quote "the harder I work, the luckier I get." I'm not going to google that one to find out who said it - life's too short, and I'll only get confused. The point I'm trying to make is, you don't need specific skills or talent to be able to run, but you do need to work at it. There are certain things you can learn, be it how to improve your running style, how to choose what shoes to run in, how to approach certain races psychologically, etc, etc - but undeniably, above all else, the more time you're able to devote to running, the better you'll become. 

Unlike with my golf, I can (nearly) always find time to go for a run. Since I love reading about running, and listening to the advice of the many good runners that I'm lucky enough to know, I have learnt a lot over the last few years about how to get it right. I understand the importance of good running form, I've worked on my foot strike and my cadence, I have the right shoes, I know plenty of decent training routes, and plenty of decent types of training workouts - and I know which types of races I'm likely to do better in than others. In short, I have everything in place to continue to improve for many years to come - but only if I can apply my knowledge and experience to a decent training programme, and I can't do this all the time I'm struggling with discomfort.

This is my handicap chart from Run Britain. My running handicap (unlike my golf) has come down a fair bit since I began, but its no coincidence that the periods of significant improvement always correlate with periods of decent training.

It's not the end of the world - I'm much luckier than many, and I don't want to sound like I'm complaining - but I know that if I want to improve as a runner, it's a necessary step to have these two operations, even though it's going to put me out of action for a long time. The decision becomes harder every time I have a decent race - do I really need to do this? - but it's about whether I'm happy performing at the level I'm currently at, because without getting this sorted, I'm just entering races time and again off the back of very little work, and hoping for different results. Which is insanity, as Einstein almost pointed out. Possibly.

What level will I be able to run at after the Operations?

I'm hoping that, once I'm back running pain free, and am able to up the mileage and intensity of my training, that I'll push on significantly and tackle some much more demanding targets. High on the list is a sub 30min 5 mile - I'm close, but I'm aware that the difference between being able to average 6m15 pace - as I can now - and being able to hit 6min pace for 5 miles - to get under half an hour - is much bigger than it sounds. My current pace over 5 miles should be enough to get me a sub 40min 10km, but I haven't managed this yet either - so if I don't grab one at Littleport next week (more on this in a bit), then this will be my first main target once I return to training properly, which I expect (providing I can have the 2nd operation in December) to be Spring next year. Ultimately I want to be able to hit 6min mile pace for longer distances - a  10 miler in under 1 hour and a sub 1hr 20 half marathon would be very nice - and if I can do this, then my shorter distances could potentially become seriously quick - sub 18min for 5km at the very least.

But....I have to consider the possibility that, after the operations, I may not quite be able to get back to the level I'm at now. I am very fortunate to have Charlotte in my life - for all sorts of reasons of course, but within the context of this blog because of her understanding and her own knowledge when it comes to running. She knows better than any one else how important it is to me, and to my state of mind. She knows I'm going to find it hard being unable to run for so long, and will be a massive help in keeping me sane over the next few months. And she has also considered the chance that I may not be able to return to my current level - and has very sensibly suggested that the most important result will be not how quickly I can then run afterwards, but how comfortably.

Her idea is that, if I can't quite return to current pace, it may be that at the very least I find I can enjoy my running again, and that longer training runs then become the thing to do instead, leading to longer distance races again. In addition to the many great marathons out there, there is a whole world of ultra running to explore. All the time I can run at a decent speed, and improve, then this is not the direction I want to take - but her point is that if I can't get the speed back, I may find I can enjoy the greater distance instead. 

Next Up - Littleport 10km

Definitely my kind of race

And so to the next race - this coming Sunday, at Littleport. Deep in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, this race is completely flat, and so appeals to PB hunters across the region. Hills definitely make my condition worse, so I've been avoiding them wherever possible! I mentioned briefly above how my current 5 mile times suggest a sub 40 minute 10km should be achievable. To get a sub 40 minute run over 6.2 miles you need to run each mile at 6m27 pace. My last 5 miler at Great Bentley saw me average 6m13 - so do this for just one more mile (and a bit) and that's the target beaten easily. Of course, in reality I didn't run this pace throughout: I had a good first mile, a good last mile, and averaged around 6m20 pace for the remainder, with a couple of dodgy stretches thrown in for good measure. But even so, I am pretty sure that if the race had been a 10km, I'd have hung on and gone under the 40min barrier.

In fact, I've averaged under this pace for a couple of other 5 mile races, at Sudbury this year and Hadleigh at the end of last year, so I really ought to be able to manage this - but in three attempts at the distance this year, in addition to those in previous years, I've never quite got a 10km right. The tactic this time around is simple - don't try and get a decent first mile in, as I do for both 5km and 5mile races - instead, set off at the required average pace, or even slightly slower, and leave a bit for a push in the final mile. If I ran at 6m30 pace up until the end of the 5th mile, I'd have 7m30 left for the last 1.2 miles, which should be pretty straightforward since I always find a bit towards the end of a race. If I could match my 5 mile pace, I'd actually get well under the target - but given that it's always eluded me in the past, I'd prefer to be sensible, and to finish feeling I could have gone a bit quicker, rather than to set off at 6m15 pace and then struggle throughout.

This one was likely to be competitive

Psychologically, in order to do this, I probably need to start a little way back from the start line. In most shorter races I try to line up with the quick runners right on the line, no matter how quick they look - and this helps me to get off to a quick start - but it does usually then mean I get passed by a fair few runners in the middle part of the race, before clawing back positions in the last mile. This time, with a slower starting pace in mind, I know that if I start at the front I'll not be matching the speed of the leaders - so there's no point. Better to start a few rows back, and then gradually gain places (hopefully!) throughout the race.

And this one not so much....

There are a couple of courses where I've deliberately employed this tactic of starting further back - and at a slower pace - because I've known the first part of the race is much tougher than the last part -- I've blogged previously about the Newmarket Heath 6km, which I've run 3 times, and I approached this year's Kedington 5km in the same way. The feeling I've had, overtaking throughout rather than being overtaken, and recording notable negative splits (where the second half of your race is quicker than the first) means they rank amongst the most enjoyable races I've competed in, and this seems like a good way to approach Littleport.

But without anything on the course to slow me in the first mile (like the big hills at the start of Newmarket and Kedington) it's going to have to come down to being sensible. What can go wrong?!