An hour

Well, despite Wednesday's new found enthusiasm, I failed to get out yesterday as it was just too wet and windy.  Checked in today with poor Mikey Conway (not many people have ever called him that) but fortunately he lives up high and has avoided the flooding.

Today with the achilles feeling ever better I got our for 13km in just over an hour (4:47's), coincidentally meeting Barts just as we were both about to set off.  Had a good yarn with him for 40mins then upped the pace a bit when he headed back to the office (tapering for Lane Cove 10km tomorrow).  Another run done in one piece.

Nice response Sammy.  Good to have some intelligent banter on these pages rather than the drivel you find on rival blogs.  Come home soon mate.  Big Manly Hardcore Curry Night planned for tomorrow starting in the Harbord Hilton, you would love it.

Starting up again

So, I'm going to start posting more regularly in the hope of kick-starting a more regular training regime. 

The achilles is sore for 24 hours after each run but I'm able to progressively run further and faster each time before it affects my form.  I think it's at the stage where running is not detrimental to it but just needs to be managed.  I'm doing 120 eccentric loading heel drops per day and more rolling out than Macca on a Sunday morning.  

Yesterday was 10km in 45mins.  Had to work hard to maintain 4:30's, such has been my drop off in form.  I've put on a load of weight but not bothered by that. Just want to run free again.

News of the day was Britain's formal invocation of Article 50 to trigger Brexit.  To be honest, I don't know enough about the economic fundamentals to have a real feel on the sensibility of the decision.  It feels wrong and I was sympathetic to a Labour politician on ABC24 asking people to remember what Britain was like economically before 1973 when they joined.  But then Britain wasn't much better in the late 70's in the era of national strikes, high inflation and the 3 day week.

So you have to do a straw poll. In 5 years time, will:

(a) the pound be stronger against the Euro than it is now?

(b) the FTSE have risen by a greater percentage than the DAX?

I'll guess no to both.

Update

Well, it's a whole month later.  Maggie's training continues to go well.  We did the 2 x Passmore reps again this morning (coincidentally after last post) and she ran 2:28 (3:47 pace) then 2:31 (3:52 pace).  Getting stronger by the week.  She has inherited her Mum's Garmin FR 25 and is becoming obsessed with it.  A true runner in the making.  Followed by 6 x 60m sprints.

I've been trying everything with the achilles but became pretty depressed after having a whole fortnight off running (which included a trip to New York where I couldn't have fit it in anyway) but came back with the achilles more sore than before.  It has still been sore just to walk.  So on Monday I decided to try everything.  Been doing a lot more on the plantar with a cricket ball which provides a lot of relief, increased the heel drops to 120 per day but, more importantly, booked an appointment with Dr Isaacs in North Sydney (on Ben Streck's recommendation) who specialises in laser therapy and dry needling.

Well, I don't know about the laser therapy but he did dry needling all the way from my mid-back to my heel and every section produced a huge release spasm from the relevant muscle.  I walked out of the room high-kicking like John Cleese and virtually pain free.

Have also invested in a new pair of trainers (Brooks Transcend 4) and in-soles.  Did my longest run in 2 months today - 10km with Pete, Bruce and Brendan.  Only marginal pain from the achilles which, for the first time, eased as the run went on.