Running through a ‘proper’ winter: first impressions

I have been running seriously for about five years now. Despite numerous set backs (see this and the footing section below), I am now running nearly every day. This has required a change of attitude towards running, notably to schedule my life around running, as apposed to trying to 'fit in' a run when I can. This also means that I have chosen to run despite the weather. For the last two months I have been living in Whitehorse, in Canada's far Northern Yukon Territory. It gets pretty cold here. When I arrived in October the temperatures were around the -10oC mark. This quickly dropped to -20oC

A Quick Knee Update

It's been eight weeks now since I injured my knee and things are improving, but i'm still taking things easy. After seven weeks I was starting to get concerned - I was still experiencing a strange sensation when doing anything slightyl strenuous, no pain as such but definitely a little discomfort. I expressed my concern to the running club in Comox via their forum and another member, who also happens to be a doctor gave me some reassuring words that it didn't sound like a permanant injury and that things would improve. He also recommended that I go to see a physio to confirm the injury and to seek

There will be other runs

Just a little update on my running situation - it has been nearly four weeks since my last run due to my knee injury. Around ten days ago I attempted a very short, easy run but my knee didn't feel strong enough and I ended up walking back the last half. While the knee is improving slowly, I don't want to start running again until I feel it is ready - so after that run I decided that I had to rule myself out of the Juan de Fuca run I have been training so hard for. I knew it was the smart decision, this is too big a hole in my training and there wouldn't be enough time to get my body ready for that

Forced to take a break

I am currently having a few days off from running after suffering from knee pain during my 25.5km run at the weekend. I was worried this might happen but i'm not surprised - I knew that my training schedule was pretty intense and that some part of my body might not be able to keep up. "Runners knee" is not uncommon and I think this is a result of classic overuse. I think that my run two weeks ago along the rugged coastline was what really did it, after which I experienced some soreness in my knees which passed after a couple of days. In order to get into shape to do the JDF run before I leave the

My two weeks in Victoria

I have been in Victoria for just under two weeks and have really enjoyed my time there. For the first 10 days I was house sitting for Richard's parents Hilary and JP when they went to Florida, my time was both productive and relaxing. I had fun working on the van and also did some work on various websites - some my own and some for others. I also did lots of running with no shortage of stunning trails and Taz the dog joined me for all but the longest of these. I managed to get a nice combination of work and play and enjoyed doing some work on the computer looking out of the window and then going

JDF Training Update

Today is the end of my fourth week of sticking to my training schedule and it has been going well so far. I have had a tiny niggle in the back of my mind over the last week after experiencing some slight calf pain during my 15.5km run last weekend and have also been feeling pretty tired (hardly surprising having run every day for the last six weeks with increasing distances!) but my body was definitely telling me something. In preparation for my long run today I had a slightly easier day yesterday than planned and made sure I had a couple of really good nights sleep. 18km is the third furthest