Garmin Connect gives a mean VO2 max if you also connect the heart rate monitor. Without the HR monitor, the wrist based readings though look a bit unreliable
Garmin Connect gives a mean VO2 max if you also connect the heart rate monitor. Without the HR monitor, the wrist based readings though look a bit unreliable
So the past week has been a week of pretty good progress. I walked up Penyghent last Thursday and then on Saturday it was an 11 mile walk up Ingleborough. And then a really great, largely off road, 15.5 mile cycle ride on Sunday. All in all I probably walked 35 miles for the week and cycled 25. All of which my knee stood up to darn well.
I rested my knee Monday and Tuesday this week, aside from 3 miles dog walking each day, and had a 6 mile whiz out on the bike yesterday. Today though I girded my loins and ran again and, hallelujah, it wasn’t a slow hobbly shuffle like my previous tries but actually felt like damn fine proper running. It was only 3.3 miles of flat running around the fields here mind but my average pace was was almost 10 minute miling and my knee felt like I could’ve pushed harder too. My knee did ache a bit but nothing that felt like it was debilitating me.
That said I don’t want to get too cocky about it. I thought I was on the mend about 6 weeks ago and it turned out I wasn’t. Much depends on whether my knee reacts in anyway to today’s run out but here’s hoping I’ve hit bottom and am now clawing my way back
Also the diet is off to a good start. I weighed in at 12 stone 8 on Monday, a 3 pound loss for the week
Last edited by Fellbeast; 25-03-2021 at 03:30 PM.
A brief update:
I’m continuing to make progress although it’s not nearly fast enough (yet) right now. For sure each weekend I have been giving my knee a damn good work out and, over this last Easter weekend for instance, I managed a couple of miles running and nearly 30 miles walking, including a steep up and steep down Cat Bells, and a pretty gnarly 21 mile bike ride. With the bike ride throwing the Deepdale climb out of Dentdale to White Moss right at me a third of the way in.
My weight is still going downwards too and I’m 12 stone 7 this morning, albeit still a stone heavier than my ideal fighting weight
Hoping to start incorporating more running from later this week and we’ll then see how that goes
Last edited by Fellbeast; 06-04-2021 at 12:16 PM.
Frustrations aside you should be pleased with that progress.
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
Another great week of progress to report. Last Thursday I did a 3.1 mile trail run and really enjoyed it, with little or no grief to speak of from my knee. What’s more there were no ‘red hot pokers stabbing into my knee’ after effects either..... which made a pleasant change. And yesterday evening I did a 4.5 mile run in the fells below Penyghent and that went really well too. So two good runs within the space of 7 days; that’s what I call progress
But it wasn’t just the runs in the past seven days that stress tested my knee, it was what I managed to cram in between the runs too. Totting that up I managed something like 10.5 miles of dog walks, 23 miles of hiking up or around four separate peaks*, one cardio gym session and a pretty hardcore 28 miles and 2,700 feet largely off-road bike ride
After three months of pain, frustration and occasional despair it finally looks like I’m through the worst. And that I am on the upward slope (touch wood). I almost feel I should be quoting Churchill, beating them on the beaches or saying not the end, or the beginning of the end type baloney but l still don’t want to get ahead of myself. The main thing is I can run again.
Now I need to turn two runs in a week into three and maybe chuck in something a tad longer. And of course keep up all the bike riding, hiking, dog walking and gym stuff too
Oh and my weight is falling too - I’ve lost 5 pounds and am now down to 12 stone 6
*This included one peak, Whernside, at dawn for some drone photography. I couldn’t be arsed to drive all the way to the Welsh borders to have a gander at Wheeze’s back garden but went up a beautiful deserted mountain instead
Last edited by Fellbeast; 15-04-2021 at 03:39 PM.
Another positive update. In the last 12 days since my last post I've managed:
3 pretty full on 'workouts of the day' at the gym
4 bike rides totally 66 miles with 6,500 feet of ascent, including one 37.25 mile humdinger. All bike rides were off-road as much as they were on-road and included nothing mamby-pamby
3 mountain hikes (Smearsett Scar, Old Man of Coniston and the 3 peaks of Upper Wharfedale) totalling 27 miles and 7,500 feet of ascent
3 trail runs totalling 15 miles and 1,850 feet. Including my first (almost classifiable perhaps as a) long run of 8 miles yesterday evening
A load of normal dog walks
Weight - 12 stone 5 pounds which = a loss of 1 pound
Knee mood - getting a good boshing but getting stronger
Last edited by Fellbeast; 27-04-2021 at 12:17 PM.
Hurrah, I'm finally back running in the hills. Not fast yet but trotting along okay. 4 runs, 21 miles and 5,500 feet of ascent in the past week plus a 21 mile and 2,400 feet off-road/on-road gravel bike expedition on Sunday
I also managed to fit in some aerial photography using my (fits in a pocket) aerial photography thingummybob* while I was at it, including a super snowy Penyghent yesterday morning
Untitled by stoll2007
Untitled by stoll2007
*Don't mention the d word
Last edited by Fellbeast; 06-05-2021 at 12:37 PM.
Great progress and those really are spectacular shots, makes me long to get back to Yorkshire.
Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
3 runs totalling 23 miles and 2,850 ft and 3 bike rides totalling 40 miles and 4,000 feet this past week. And two crack of dawn gym CrossFit sessions to boot.
I even managed a relatively fast 3.2 mile run where, whilst not anywhere near blasting it, I was at least pushing it. I also did my longest comeback run yet at the weekend totalling 11.6 miles
My knee still aches a bit, especially in the first half mile of a run, but it's increasingly not nearly aching so much afterwards and here's hoping the positive trend continues. I'm now planning to really push the envelope with something a fair bit longer this coming weekend and I reckon that may be a make or breaker
Are you still planning for the long race (was it something like 100 miles in July...?)