Exercise 1.1

First day on the stair descents. I'll try to keep a log of how things go.

This morning I did a set of 10 on each leg without problem. I was fine walking around work and commuting. This evening I did the same and felt minor discomfort in the quad tendon. For the last few on each leg I was able to take a bit of my weight by holding above the step and this removed the ill feeling. Notably the left calf was tight too and this felt to be blocking a slow steady eccentric descent. I followed with 10 mini lunges per leg and 10 small squats; these were fine.

Rebuilt 315's

My second pair or Roclite 315s had collapsed within the midsole and yet the uppers were in good condition. I had bought some new ones some months before and rotated between them so as not to become accustomed to one particular heel shape but now this pair seemed too sloping to be sensible to wear. With only 600km of use this is quite costly. Although the third pair could be rotated with a potential fourth pair it seemed more eco-friendly to see if I could get the mid and outersoles repaired. Inov-8 don't sell replacement sole units nowadays although I know that they did in their early days. It is of note that Inov-8 suggested that I might be better off with Trailroc 255 shoes and maybe I'll give those a go when my current 315s nead replacing.

From various online forums it appeared that LSR have a good reputation in resoling fell shoes and after exchanging a few emails I decided to try their service. I sent the shoes from a local convenience store via Hermes which was very good value, far cheaper than the FedEx service offered by LSR. Today the shoes arrived (a turnaround of a couple of weeks as advertised) and they look good.

Freshly repaired

The fell sole looked as though it would wear rapidly on stony trails and tarmac so I asked for the Vibram 'road sole', which has a  hiking shoe like pattern but fairly shallow tread. They cut away visibly damaged EVA and replaced it with a dense material. This might give the soles an uneven compressibility and cushioning but I think that's the least of my worries as it has restored the sole contour. Comparing them to a newish pair of shoes the height and planes look similar so the drop is probably similar to new.

The job was expensive and didn't feel financially sensible as it is around half the cost of a new pair of shoes but it does keep a local company in business and avoid shoe waste. I'm sure that Inov-8 won't approve.

I'll try a run in the shoes but I'm also thinking that I may use to do quick fast trail walk. I'll post agin when I've had the chance to try them out, Hopefully it won't have been a waste of money.

Two more months

This evening's session with the physio was focussed on recovery and came with the suggestion that it was likely to take another 2 months, assuming that I've had a month already. The tissues are less tender than previously and I reported less discomfort after walking trips implying that healing is taking place. So what do I have to do?

• 2 sets of 10 very slow single leg descents down stairs repeated 2 or 3 times daily
• 1 set of 10 lunges - to be very controlled ensuring that knee stays behind ankle, with raised arms to engage more core muscles
• 1 set of 10 small squats - as above no forward movement of knees, leaning forwards to balance  torso

I should also try to achieve 5km runs per week which should be done on the level or slightly uphill. Descents should be walked. Also the runs to be done ina 3minutes run 1minute walk cycle. There should be at least 48hours between runs. Whilst the step descents are prescribed daily the squats and lunges aren't to be done on run days. The current programme of roller and stretching is to be continued too.

This is quite a programme and I shouldn't continue through pain in any set nor start a set or run if I'm still in discomfort from the previous activity. So really it is a gaol for the next few weeks rather than something to be done now.

As an aside, I was watched doing a few minutes on a treadmill and apparently every 3 steps or so I swing a leg close to, or even occasionally across, the midline. Clearly this puts significant lateral forces on the connective tissues. I'm supposed to try to keep my feet on 2 lines shoulder width apart, but quite how to achieve this without looking down all the time is unclear to me. This webpage seems to show a case a little more marked than me.

At the circuit class I did 1 set of lunges and 2 of squats and walked there and back as I had my commuting rucsac with me. I didn't notice any issues at the time.

Short pool

As the swimming class was cancelled due to the bank holiday I returned to Heeley Baths. There was only one lane available and after I'd done a few lengths in it a label appeared stating 'Fast Lane'. There were only 4 of us using it, 2 at a similar speed to me and one much faster. The rest of the pool was too hectic to have done lengths with any degree of reliability.  As I wasn't sure how long the pool was I did 52 lengths to ensure that I'd exceeded the 1000m. On my way out I asked and was told that it is 22.5m.

That gave a total of 1170m and a time of 03:14 per 100m. Shorter lengths seem faster as the are more opportunities for a catch-up-breath and there's a more frequent push off. The main thing was that I managed to keep going on the whole, only delaying a length to let the faster swimmer go past. By the time I finished, there were just 2 of us in the lane.

Now I'm getting the hang of this swimming I must make sure I don't get injured shoulders.

Hiking around Edale

Whilst the knees are too delicate to run I seem to be able to do reasonable hikes without much detectable discomfort. Today we did a loop around the Hope valley including a stop for lunch.

Looking northwards from Win Hill

There were a quite number of people out although not as many as one might expect on a bank holiday Sunday. I'm aware of my left knee especially after 15 undulating miles but I only experienced pain when I sort of banged by foot against a stone. I think this might be progress.

First swimming gadget

Now I've started to be able to string some lengths together and reach a fair total I decided that I needed a gadget to log things! I considered the single minded Garmin Swim and Poolmate but thought that I didn't swim enough. Then I excluded the Suunto Ambit2 in its various guises and the Garmin Fenix2 largely on the basis of cost and that they make far too much of a statement for a beginning swimmer, although they'd be great to record and navigate long trail runs.

Images from the company's websites

A couple of reviews also mention that the automatic counters are quite sensitive to technique and as mine is poor and not very reproducible they seemed a bit risky. The low key solution was a simple waterproof counter from SportCount that's small enough to sit on a single finger.

From the website, the image doesn't show how small the counter is.

On its first use I only failed to trigger the length once and that was evident as that length had twice the duration of the adjacent ones. I also managed to retrieve total time and individual length data from it; features are accessed sequentially using the single button below the display. There are 3 models of counter with different features but the prices are so similar it made sense to get the top model.

On this occasion I copied the data by hand into a spreadsheet, I'm not sure if I'll do that every time but it felt as though I should start off that way! This revealed that my pace was a slow 03:43 minutes per 100m. Somehow at the Goodwin I need pauses between lengths, only of a few seconds, but there nonetheless, I think I find the rough water tiring.

Unsure about progress

Yesterday evening was the circuit class and as planned I ran there and back slowly. I avoided all quadriceps-based exercises and felt fine when I arrived home. Today I've been a little aware of the various tendons around my knee and some are quite tender.

I'm sure that some of the discomfort is linked to use but some might be due to tight muscles. Last night I had terrible calf cramp which has been resistant to stretching and rollering done at odd times through the day.

Movement is in the right direction but it is very slow progress and I do sometimes wonder if I'll ever manage 40km again, never mind achieve 100km. On Monday the physio spoke of a 12 week programme to get back close to where I was. So if I'm lucky, that's 30km by August.