It took an extra week but I've now finished Phase 1 of the Foundation program and I've been pleased with the improvements in my running.

A friend asked me if I thought I was running faster now than before I had my run of injuries and I'm not sure that I am (yet) but I definitely feel stronger and more confident with my running.

1 mile test

20 Minute Test

I've put a lot of effort into my cadence by running with a metronome for the past 6 months which has paid off.  

I have  a Garmin which measures a few things other than heart rate and time so included them above because they showed a difference.  Still not sure if the change in those metrics is positive.  I assume the decrease in vertical oscillation is a good thing but I increased my ground contact time on my latest 20 minute test so not really sure what that means.  If anyone has any insights then I'd love to them.

It's taken 8 months of strength training and limiting myself to 4 x 30 minute runs per week when injury pain would allow to actually start on the Foundation Program.  I suppose I could have started sooner but each time I tried to push myself during that period with hill sprints or strides I'd experience another injury flare up and knew that something just wasn't right with my technique. I wanted to start when I knew that I'd be able to see it through.

I still have some lingering foot niggles but nothing that's actually getting worse with running.  

When I did the 2 tests I was surprised to see that I wasn't off the chart in terms of speed (8.10 for the one mile test) but nearly for heart rate, just snuck in at the 150 average for the 20 minute test.  

Now I'm 2 weeks into the Foundation program and really enjoying it.  Love the variety and the challenge of it.  

The long day 6 run feels kind of odd and a bit like prancing.  I find myself speeding up every time I see another runner, no matter how fast they're going!  But even after 2 weeks I can already see that I've improved slightly week on week - lower average HR, higher average pace, average cadence better and stride length about the same all while adding another 15 minutes in length.  

I'm curious to see what kind of runner I can become with good run form and a solid training program.  Feels good to be excited by running again!

Its been 3 months since I finished reading TCI and started on strength training and just under 3 months for wearing my B2R road shoes.  To be honest, I thought I'd be further through the program, especially as I've been diligent about doing all the strength exercises 3-4 times per week but I'm kind of stuck on the Transition phase and not wanting to go further until I've sorted out some lingering soreness in my right heel.

While I haven't progressed along the training program like I'd hoped I have gained a lot since the year began. Here's some of the things I've learnt so far:

• I used to over-stride and my cadence was too slow at around 164
• I can now run with a cadence of 180 pretty consistently (a metronome app on my iphone sorted me out)
• when I'm running on the flat and feel my elbows starting to flap out sideways from my body, I'm feeling unsteady and need to focus on form
• when the inside of my right ankle starts to ache I need to pay attention to how my forefoot is striking the ground - nice and even and not too high compared to the rest of my foot
• when the inside of my right ankle keeps aching (even when I'm not running) then I need to stop and feel for the lump in the muscle running down  my shin bone and press on it while flexing my foot (a la the sock doc's plantar fascia suggestions) to get it to ease
• when my ankle starts aching I'm feeling unsteady and I need to focus on my form, especially my knee drive
• when I run slowly to keep my heart rate low but keep my cadence around 180 it can feel a bit like prancing ;)
• when my cadence drops off I need to focus and be mindful of what I'm doing
• when my feet or ankles start aching I need to relax them and focus on my knee drive
• it doesn't matter how long it takes to complete the transition program and I felt more at ease with how I was going once I let go of a timeline (doesn't mean I'm not eager to move on to the next phase but I'm not going to beat myself up about it either!)
• when I first try to do an exercise (hello wobble board lunges!) and can't even manage to do it at all, I know that its OK and just the act of trying means that it will get easier the very next time I attempt it and keep getting better from there
• some exercises are easier some days than others
• I can do a lot of different things to help my body when its feeling a bit 'off' - eg if my hips or lower back is feeling sore or tight, I can do some 'windshield wipers' and it will ease

These things are not what I thought I'd gain when I started out but I guess that's the way with any change:  you never really know what you're going to get until you get going.

I stopped eating sugar in January 2013 (since I read Sarah WIlson's I Quit Sugar book - I'd definitely recommend this if anyone is struggling with letting sugar go) so haven't made massive tweaks to my diet since reading TCI but I've been testing out my relationship to carbs like bread and rice.  I don't think that relationship is over but its certainly become less involved and far more casual.

Bring on the next 3 months...