Sunday 26 February 2012

'Chilly' Duathlon, Castle Combe - Race Report

This was my second crack at the 'Chilly' Duathlon. Unfortunately I had come down with a cold which, by the weekend of the race, was verging on a chest infection. But I had paid up and was looking forward to this, so decided I didn't want to miss out.

A few people from my triathlon club were there, but since I'm a relative newbie nobody really expects anything of me. Just as well ;-)

The format was as last time: 2-mile run, 10-mile bike, 2-mile run (although in practice the bike leg was short.

I knew a couple of the guys from the club were no better than me as runners, so I lined up behind one of them and decided to keep him in my line of sight for the first two miles. The little whippet went off at 5:40/mile pace, but he eased off a little and I just about held on to complete the first 2-mile run in 11:47 (see GPS data here).

In the fray during the first 2-mile run

T1 went relatively smoothly, though I've since been told I need to cut my transition times pretty much in half. It's 'free time', as my triathlete friends say. My lock laces might have saved me a few seconds, but I think I could do with some triathlon cycling shoes with nice big velcro straps instead of road shoes with fiddly ratchet fasteners.

Feeling the after-effects of a fast 2-miler in T1

Anyway, onto the bike. I managed to average over 20mph on this leg, but that didn't stop me from being overtaken by what felt like every man and his dog. In fairness, I had barely done any training in the saddle. But I have a turbo trainer on its way in the post and will be hitting the hills at weekends, so all that will change. By the end of the bike leg I was just about in the top half of the pack, clocking a time of 27:19 (see GPS data here). Not bad, but not great either. So, what did I have left in the tank?

Well, not a great deal. That familiar feeling of cramp was looming, so I hobbled out of the transition area in much the same fashion as I had at my last duathlon. Methinks many more brick sessions are in order! But similarly to last time, I did manage to loosen up after a mile or so (pity I had only one more mile to make it up!). The final 2-mile leg took me 13:10 - a massive 1:23 behind my first leg. (See GPS data here). On the plus side I ran the second mile of that leg more than 30 seconds faster than the first mile. Every cloud and all that! Plus, my overall time was a couple of minutes faster than last time :-)

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There was a good sense of camaraderie. And caning myself over two disciplines for the best part of an hour beat moping around the house in my dressing gown, Lemsip in hand. And besides, I'll be back! I'll even wear the shades again, just to look the full part ;-)

Just after the finish - looking far too fresh


Results

Run 1: 11:47
T1: 01:06
Bike: 27:19
T2: 01:07
Run 2: 13:10

Total: 54:31 (putting me 108th of 240 finishers)

See official results here.

Bike splits:

5:19; 5:14; 5:17; 5:28; 5:37

Sunday 19 February 2012

Llanelli 10 - Race Report

The first ever Llanelli 10 was run along the picturesque Millennium Coastal Path. With such fantastic scenery,  a reasonably flat course and good organisation, I expect the number of participants to grow steadily from the 250 or so who turned up this weekend. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable event.

If only my performance had lived up to the setting! A friend of mine had laid down the gauntlet and challenged me to run this at 4:00/km pace (which would make 1:04:22). I knew I had it in me and so attacked the race from the off, hitting my first two mile splits in a steady but comfortable 6:18 and 6:26.

Thereafter, as I'd suspected, the weather came into play. The mistake I made was trying to maintain my pace against the headwinds, which turned out to be a pretty futile task. My split times dropped to 6:34, 6:39, 6:41, eventually bottoming out at 6:51 for mile 8. By that point I was really frustrated. Through sheer doggedness I managed to regain some kind of form and ran the final two miles in 6:35 and 6:34 respectively. My official finish time was 1:06:25 (the course also came up a couple of hundred yards long on my Garmin). I crossed the line with mixed emotions.

Positives:

- This was a PB performance (I hadn't run a 10-mile race for quite a while).
- I dug deep and finished relatively strong.
- I know that, if I play it right, I can better this performance at the Bath Half Marathon in three weeks' time. Bring it on!

Official results here. My Garmin data here.


Distance: 10.00 miles (Garmin: 10.08 miles)
Position: 29 of 250
Avg pace: 6m 39s / mile (Garmin: 6m 35s / mile)
Conditions: Windy, 7°C

Friday 17 February 2012

Shin splints: a grey area

As a runner you hear the words 'shin splints' bandied around a lot, usually as an umbrella term for any kind of pain along the tibia (hence the medical name medial tibial stress syndrome). It is a horribly frustrating condition, partly because it is so vaguely defined. Just what is it? Why does it happen? And most importantly, how can it be cured?

Unfortunately, one case of shin splints is likely differ greatly from the next so there really is no 'one size fits all' solution. The NHS speculates that shin splints is caused by 'intense and frequent periods of exercise that your body is not used to' and is most likely to affect those who:
  • have been running for less than five years;
  • are running on hard surfaces or slopes;
  • wear poorly fitting or worn-out trainers that do not support the foot properly;
  • are overweight, as this places extra weight on your legs;
  • have flat feet or feet that tend to roll inwards (overpronate), as this places more pressure on the lower leg;
  • have weak ankles or tight Achilles tendons.
With so many factors at play, you're unlikely to find the answer you need on any running forum. Even with the benefit of physical examinations, experts (osteopaths, sports therapists, and physiotherapists) can struggle to find the root cause of shin splints.

Take my case, for example. I have always been active. As a teenager I ran track and cross-country and even in my lazy student days I ran intermittently and played football most weeks. Over the past 18 months I have re-established a solid base of running fitness, averaging about 25-30 miles per week. Yet whenever I tried to up my mileage to 35-40 mpw, no matter how patiently, my shins flared up badly. I've watched (and envied) other runners happily exceed 50 mpw and wondered why I couldn't do likewise.

Last summer the pain got so bad that I was forced to rest for 10 days. At that point I decided to put my hand in my pocket and see a specialist. The first person I saw was an osteopath, mainly because he was local and well reputed. Initially he put my mind at rest by ruling out the dreaded words 'stress fracture'. He explained that the tibialis posterior had been pulling hard against the tibia, causing periosteal pain. But thereafter, every session was spent treating the symptoms and not the cause. When in one session he said that he had 'hoped to see some improvement by now', I decided I'd had enough and looked elsewhere. 

My next port of call was somebody who claimed to be a sports therapist, among other things (therein lay the problem, I suspect -- beware of 'holistic' therapists). He seemed unsure of the cause but launched into massage and 'sound therapy', which I found really dubious. After two sessions I gave up.

A few months ago I moved (back) to Cardiff and had a clinic recommended to me by a local fitness instructor. Based on my own experience, I'm now happy to pass on that recommendation: the staff at DTR Clinic not only provide a thorough and tailored service, but are also frank and honest -- if they can't help you, they will explain why and probably refer you. Crucially, they won't carry on treating the symptoms of a condition without addressing its cause (which is of course an endless dynamic and frankly unethical).

The physio I saw spotted that I had flat feet and mused that my shin splints were the result of overpronation. I wasn't satisfied with that diagnosis, however: I'd had my gait analysed twice at two different running shops and been told categorically both times that I had a neutral foot plant (see the videos from my last gait analysis here). Even so, I followed the advice I was given and experimented with strapping, ice and a more diligent stretching regime. After three weeks there was no discernible improvement. On that evidence, my physio suspected my problem might be biomechanical and referred me to a podiatrist. Here were his findings:

"Patient presented with severe soreness on the medial aspect of both shins, and severe pain on palpation of tibialis posterior tendon over lower 1/3 of medial shin border.

On examination we found some limitation in ankle dorsiflexion bilaterally which did improve with knee flexion, suggesting some calf tightness. Also a severe restriction in 1st metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) dorsiflexion (hallux rigidus or stiff big toe).

Pressure v time charts show heel lift at approx 30% of stance phase (normal 67%) confirming ankle equinus / early heel lift requiring either stretching regime and / or heel elevation on orthoses.

Suggests loss of motion at 1st MTPJ is primary concern requiring the foot to supinate onto the lateral border as a compensatory mechanism. This is shown in the scans below indicating reduced load through the great toe joint.

Barefoot scans illustrating increased load on lateral aspect of foot avoiding the 1st MTPJ

The primary structure employed to create a supinatory compensation pattern is the tibialis posterior muscle. This muscle lies deep in the calf and inserts on the medial aspect of the foot on the tuberosity of the navicular. The role of this muscle is to resist pronation and facilitate supination. I would suggest that the tibialis posterior muscle has been overloaded in the compensatory movement pattern secondary to the stiffness of the great toe.

The scans below show the orthoses being used. They show the lateral load being maintained hopefully without excessive use of tibialis posterior. This should reduce symptoms quickly and effectively."




So with my new orthoses, I hope to finally run without pain. So far I have only run a couple of miles on the treadmill and it was a slightly odd sensation, but my shins did seem less irritated than usual afterwards. More to follow.