Couch to 5k 2011: Part 5 - Polished and Ready to Run

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Yet more space for us to talk about our progress on the Couch to 5K programme, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the gadgets we use -and our nail varnish.

New runners are warmly welcomed - come and give it a whirl, you know you want to! Although this thread has been going for a year now some of us are re-doing the Couch to 5K, some of us are relatively new, some are doing half marathons already, we are a good mix and would love to hear from anyone who would like to run with us. Just jump in whatever stage you are at.

Thanks for the info. I am doing a few things in town so was just going to wear jeans. How long do they ask you to run? Thought it would be a couple of steps. Might need to think about going in another day.

hi - been on holiday but managed to squeeze in two 25 min runs before succumbing to a dreadful cold - hopefully will be OK to do last 25 min run by Weds.

I have pretty severe tendinopathy in my right achilles which gives me a permanent limp until I'm actually warmed up and running, at which point I can run without a limp then start limping again once I've cooled down Whats that all about then? Physio says not uncommon with tendinopathy. Have had gait analysed, scans, ice, heat, physio exercises - result? Still got tendinopathy. Apparently my only chance is possible plasma injections (on waiting list) or more extremely operation to scrape off all the bad bits and stitch me back up. Alternatively I could build up to doing everything at a run hence so no limp!

FB - the shop I get my shoes from just make me (and DH) walk barefoot along the floor. I've bought 3 pairs of trainers from them and I've never got near the treadmill .

We're just back from a wet week in Yorkshire - I managed a long-ish run in the Dalby Forest, but otherwise just ate and drank for England. I will be better this week

Shredded Ah, but you have to make the most of while you're back - you don't want to spend your whole holiday exercising.

FB I had to run on the treadmill for about five minutes while they videoed my feet (admittedly, about half that time was to get me used to the treadmill) and then another five minutes or so running around the shop feeling very silly trying on different shoes.

Kewcumber - Look into Shock Wave Therapy before plasma injections. It is the single most effective therapy for tendinopathy, associated with best long term outcomes.

There is also the Cortisone Injection - have you tried this?

Cortisone injection has been ruled out - they don't like doing it on achilles tendons as they have a high snap rate and will only do it if there is a clear place to inject and a high probability of improvement. I have extensive degeneration of the tendon through the whole length of the tendon so I don't think they would know where to inject! I have looked into shock wave therapy but I couldn't find any research to show it was any more effective than platelet enriched plasma injections (which don;t need to be so specific about where you inject I gather). Shock wave also has a high(ish) snap rate though as physio said - that may be down to having tendinopathy in the first place as we are more at risk of snapping.

Rheumatologist has been hopeless (though physio very well informed and excellent) so I am going to try getting my GP to refer me to orthopaedics.

Ouch at 'high-snap rate' I've gone all shivery now......

How do you got about accessing any of these treatments? My GP was profoundly uninterested... Private? I have a limited health cashback plan but wouldn't know where to start looking.

I was lucky - I got referred to a rheumatologist for my arthritis (in my rib cage/sternum) and tendinopathy is often associated with this particular kind of arthritis (it turned out to be different in my case) by the original rheumatologist (who changed to the rubbish one) referred me for tendon stripping (saline injections) which also turned out to be unsuitable for me. And now they've lost my files... so my very good GP is trying to track down the last person who had them.

If your GP isn't interested I'm not sure what you would do - chronic tendinopathy is very very hard to treat. Acute is treated by rest, rice etc as you know and in many cases will improve or go completely - y sisters went in about 6 weeks. My is over 5 years old and progressive.

A good physio will give you extension exercises (stretches) which are the only ones proven to have some effect (works on about 30% of cases I think). Other treatments are eually unsuccessful and more invasive and would only be considered in more extreme cases like mine (as far as I'm aware)

Kewcumber - I find it hard to believe that Shock Wave Therapy would have anything to do with snap risk, because it doesn't weaken tendons like cortisone can. It only impacts the tendon (a bit painful but not unbearable) and causes a controlled inflammation which serves to promote healing.

It is used with success for Achilles tendinopathy as you can see here.

If you Google shock wave therapy achilles tendinopathy you will see quite a few of these studies.

thanks I did see some studies with a 4% snap rate although as I said that may have been down to natural snappage (?!). I'll have a look at your links.

Alternatively, you can try the revolutionary new treatment for tendinopathy that I have recently discovered: frostbite! (see my post lower down)

Ah yes the Cote frostbite therapy... maybe [unconvinced emoticon]

All joking aside, something happened and it has worked for me. Maybe the frostbite rekindled the healing process - as the burn was being healed, so was the tendon. I went back to sports injury specialist doctor who was so useless and he was quite surprised (and not just by the huge dark burn mark )

last 25 min run this morning. Does it ever become easy?

Listened to radio 2 this time and found that much of the music suited my running speed quite well. Says quite a lot about my running speed I think

LOL kewcumber! I run to reggae

Thanks for all the tips on Budapest (especially anothermadamebutterfly). I'm quite excited about going now!

A question for you about distance, I'm still on wk4 so running 3 and 5 mins. How far do you think I shoud be covering? The route I did last night is just short of 3km all together (ie including walking at the start and end). Does that sound about right if I want to get to 5km by the end of the programme?

thanks I think that realistically, you need to aim to be running for 30 minutes at the end of the programme rather than 5k; I know quite a few of us struggled with running 5k in 30 mins at the end of Week 9 (it took me about 35 minutes).

I've just checked and I covered 5.47 kilometres in Week 4, including 5 minutes warm-up and cool-down walks - but I was doing the Bupa plan, so I don't think you can really compare (it was 5 minutes of running followed by 3 minutes of walking, repeated 3 times - I was out for 42 minutes altogether). For now, I would just concentrate on building up stamina and not start thinking about speed too much until you've got to the end of the programme.

Kew I was thinking about listening to the radio the other day as I'm a bit bored of my running playlist, but decided that Austrian radio would be even worse. I hadn't thought of listening to British radio, but must try Radio 2 next time.

As for whether it ever becomes easy - I always find running on my own hard work, but run a bit more slowly when I go out with my neighbour so that we can chat and I enjoy those runs a lot more. The setting is nicer too, but I can't decide whether it's a good idea to go running along the river (in the woods, which are very quiet) on my own.

I very much doubt if I will be running 5k in 30 mins by the end. In 25 mins running now plus the 5 min walks ie 35 mins I covered 4k this morning. So I guess I will probably be covering nearly 5K including the walks by the end.

My plan is to work on speed/distance once I've mastered 30 mins.

I just used the podcasts to build up my fitness and stamina and to build up how long I could run for. I now just walk/jog for a distance and increase that. That's how my running club does it anyway so Ive adopted that. I did get to week 7 with Laura, but have got bored with that. Last time I did 3.5 miles (5.6KM) in 43 minutes so way over 30 mins for 5K. My plan is to get up to 10K distances then work on my speed. I have only recently decided to go for distance over speed first, up till recently I didnt have a clue, I just wanted to run.

Ive got myself some proper running shoes (well the trainers I had before were running trainers, but were bought from Sports Direct a couple of years ago when I joined a gym), but couldnt get my gait checked as the laptop wasn't working. I did show the lady in the shop my trainers and I tried on a couple of pairs that she brought out and bought one of those so it can't be too bad for me. DH said he will pay for me to get some more with a gait check for christmas.

When a cheque I have put in my bank clears on monday (Why do Halifax take 5 days?) I am going to sign up for the 10K in Sept that I was thinking of doing. Give myself a goal.

Ive not been out running yesterday because after spending 5 hours in town I was a bit worn out. Have got a kinect though so have been on that. Running club tomorrow night and back to it properly.

Happy running everyone

Just popping in to say hello again, lovely to see so much chat on here and more new people. I've been put on the waiting list for surgery for my prolapse, which means nor running for me until that happens and about 12 weeks afterwards. It has felt a bit better recently, and I did do a couple of hundred metres jog yesterday (I was late for something) without any apparent ill effects, but it is very easy to overdo things. I'm hoping this thread will still be going strong when I get back to running properly, keep up the good work everyone.

Toffee - hello, fancy seeing you here. YYY to gait analysis, money very well spent IMO. Independent running shops are the way to go.

Regarding speed increase to get you up to 5k in 30 mins, I finished C25K about this time last year but was still only managing a bit over 4k in the 30 mins. I did weeks 1 to 5 again in September with faster running intervals and it made a big difference to my speed.

Oh arse holes, I just wrote a bloody great post and then MN went all squiffy.

From memory, it was something like:

Just wanted to to say hello, have been pretty busy recently.

I am off work this week because of some minor surgery (nothing serious, nothing related to running, just annoying) and doc told me not to do any running for a few weeks, boohoo.

I was really getting into it, have been running approx. 5.8km in 30 minutes three times a week, and was thinking about moving on an training for a 10km. And I had just approached the local running club and was looking forward to joining them one day a week.

Ah well. I will have to start gardening and sort out our garden instead, which is a jungle at the moment.

Good luck with the tendons, frostbite and other injuries and keep on running everybody.

Hi There,

Can I please join ?? I have just managed my first 25 minutes outside run 2 days ago and I'm still high !!

Hope the recovery and the jungle clearance goes well madamB. Hope to see you back here soon.

Hello shake . well done on the run. Are you following the C25K plan, or something else?

Hi, I'm doing the Get Running, I have almost finished week 6 !