Day 12 (Part 2): L is for Last Post

Last Post (With running in it. For a while at least.)

After the Mega Traffic Jam on the A40 in London I was very late home, so I headed to the Gym for a short run on the treadmill rather than a long one.  Having been woken by the Lumpy Badger boy himself at 3am, I wasn't in the first flush of brightness, but once I got going on the running machine things started loosening up nicely and the run itself went really well - 2 miles in 17:18 and not even very out of breath, so cardio fitness is clearly improving.

But.

And it's a big BUT.

I pressed the cool down button and all hell broke loose in my legs.  Removed of the urgency to run, and the adrenaline of exercise, the tightness in both inner-lower-legs (hard to describe it any other way) returned with a vengence. It was like red hot needles shooting up both of my lower inside legs. It feels a lot like what I expect carpal tunnel syndrome to feel like - except in legs rather than wrists.

It was so painful that combined with my great tiredness from the early alarm-call and the 5 hours of driving in traffic that I've done today, that I felt all woozy and dizzy and (I know, it sounds dramatic) almost sick with the sudden pain.

It was all I could do to shower and get dressed, and then I shed a little tear on Mrs Badger who I told in no uncertain terms not to let me run for a while and that I must do some different exercise until this gets better.

Having taken ibuprofen and sat with frozen soup on my inner legs for half an hour, they are feeling better (I don't feel sick any more), but I must stick to my decision.  I know I said I would run every day, but it's clearly a proper injury, and running is making it worse. I'm not a spring chicken any more so I must make sure that I'm not going to do any permanent damage.

Could be worse!

So here's what I'm going to do. I know how many calories per hour I burn on a normal run, so I can calculate how many calories per mile. Then I'm going to do mainly cycling and cross training and I will convert the calories burned into "miles equivalent".  That way I can keep tracking my "mileage" until my legs get better and I can run properly again.

Sorry for the downbeat post, normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

Janathon Stats:

Today:
Distance: 3.22km (2 miles)   Time: 17:18   Avg Pace: 5:22/km  (8:39/mile)

Overall:
Distance: 65.03km (40.41 miles)    Time: 6:00:44  Avg Pace: 5:33/km (8:56/mile)