Another “little” post from me as my stint on the IC drags on. And I dreamt I was as running.
The dream was lovely! I put on my zero-drop, light minimal shoes, which looked old-fashioned actually (like this shoe news.abs-cbn.com/business/0... ), but felt so comfortable. And I started running, in my slow, joggly but bouncy, light-feeling way; tentatively feeling my way into the running motion. I was running through streets of a town, rather than paths, but my right foot held up, and I was relishing in the feeling that I’m back! I’m back to running!
In waking life, I’m still not running, at least in the non-virtual / real worlds.
Although last week I was gearing up for a tentative little run, wanting to test out my metatarsals. But I also experienced a bit of a set-back, due to an encounter with a coat stand in the middle of the night, one that involved my toes bumping into it. 💥Ouch! ⛑🩹 Painful! 🤕 Got me back to hobbling a bit. And only now, 4 or 5 days later, is the ball of my foot and toes getting less painful again.
So a bit of a set-back.
But it didn’t keep me from rowing, and continuing on my virtual running journey (rowed) on Zwift and a few other virtual experiences.
So maybe I should retitle my series of posts from “Tales from the IC” to “Tales from my Virtuals”. Hmm 🤔 🧐 🤨 😆
So here they are:
Five Tales from my virtual row-runs:
1. Conqueror’s North Coast 500
I’m nearing Thurso in Scotland, so not too far away from John o’Groats. My hope had been to meet my other runner avatar from the End to End the LeJog challenge, to meet up in John o’Groats. But I will be reaching John o’Groats much earlier and then I still have two run or row my way down the east coast of Scotland.
2. End to End LeJog
Yes I’m still running/rowing the LeJog challenge. I’m about to head into Dumbarton in Scotland. I used to live in Dumbarton, so reaching it is really special.
Then up Loch Lomond and still a long way until John o’ Groats.
This one is going to be tight. I have to run/row an average of 21 km per week to get to John o’ Groats before the cut off date, and the people at End to End have said that this is the last time they put me on a new cohort. 😠☹️ So this is it. Either I get there in time or I don’t get a medal. 😢
So I’m giving my best!
3. Tour de Zwift Stage 2
Every year in January, Zwift puts on a tour around the most beautiful routes on Zwift-land. My last rowed-run was on Stage 2, covering waterfalls, riverbank villages, bamboo forests and quaint, Asian-looking villages. (See pic)
The scenery is amazing and you run (or row-run) with ca 60 other treadmill runners.
Although it’s a poor replacement for outdoor running, it’s unique and so much better than running or rowing whilst staring at the same wall over a 5k distance. And, wow! do I miss the feel of an outside run, especially seeing the gorgeous pictures of fresh sunny January mornings rolling by on HU and Strava! ( I do sneak in the one or other walk in heavy walking boots to protect my metatarsals, but it still does not compare to a run)
But it is a beautifully designed route, and it’s social features similar to Strava keep me motivated.
4. A collective virtual Boat Race
With my trusty indoor rower, I'm also taking part in a collective team rowing challenge! Every month some rowing group sets a challenge, this month being a 6000m race. Yup, a 6k row.
Rowing 6k was for me quite a challenge. To keep up a intensive pace for 6k… well, similar to running, you need to learn to pace yourself.
You can see the list of boats at c2ctc.com
Your time, which you can attempt to improve upon until the end of the month, also decides your position in a team boat. My team is RowAlong, as part of the RowAlong YouTube community ( youtube.com/c/RowAlongFreeI... ) run in a voluntary capacity by Scottish rower (and indoor rowing champion) John Steventon. And each team boat has 5 rowers of which at least 1 needs to be a female rower, and 1 a lightweight rower. Improving your scores might bump you up into a faster boat, and consequently bumps someone else down into a slower boat.
So so there is always movement between the boats. Once you have a 5 in a boat it sets off from the virtual shore (floated), and if you do not have the right 5 rowers in a boat it stays on the shore. The virtual shore that is. So my virtual avatar self seems to spend it’s virtual avatar life between being bumped back onto the shore or being upgraded into a floated boat. Upgrading my time increases the chances of being on a floated or even faster boat.
It sounds technical but is fabulously fun, and I am daily monitoring my movement between boats!
I’m currently 355 out of 368 rowers, so I’m still a slow rower, similar to my slow running! 🤣🤣🐌 (Snails rule!)
But it’s great fun!
5. Halfway through the 30x30 min challenge
I am also taking part in the 30×30 minutes challenge by RowAlong. This is a series of 30 workouts on the indoor rower, lasting 30 minutes each and incorporating intervals, easy rows, fast rows, pyramid rows, technical rows, freestyle rows, all categorised as high, mid or low tier/effort level.
You follow the video, which audio guides you through warm-up, rowing technique whilst rowing, and cool-down. The chatter really keeps you going, and trying to mirror the movement in the video helps set your pace.
I row these 6 per week, sometimes interrupting the series with a specific race or Zwift event.
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So these are my virtual outings as a rowing runner. In my mind, and in my dreams it seems, I’m still a runner. And I will run again, when I don’t bump into coat hangers with my toes or don’t have issues with my metatarsals. The time will come!
Happy running everyone, wherever you run: on trails, on tracks, on treadmills, on virtual words and challenge maps, and even in your dreams!
Keep on keeping on!
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
ALL LINKS TO MY RECOVERY POSTS:
So just to keep my links to my recovery couch available, here the links to the posts during the weeks on the injury couch. I’ve added a few terms to each link, as a means of reference:
Tales from the IC: Getting to know my Metatarsals (# 1) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (Metatarsalgia, fracture vs Morton’s Neuroma, shoes, barefoot and zero-drop shoes, exercises to strengthening toes)
Tales from the IC: zero-drop shoe quandaries (# 2) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (more about barefoot running, yoga for toes)
Tales from the IC: Reader, I ran today. (#3) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (trying out a short hill run, IPhone issues)
Tales from the IC : Stop Go Stop Go … (#4) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (back on the IC, waiting for last medals)
Tales from the IC : Baby (running) steps … (#5) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (trying out another mini run, ordering zero drop shoes)
Tales from the IC : Row Row Row your Run (#6) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (starting to row a runner on Zwift)
Tales from the IC : Festive Rowing-Run (#7) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (XMas, finished Zwift Running 101)
Tales from the IC : More Virtual Running Fun (#8) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (update on my rowing in all virtual races, also start of RowAlong 30x30)
Tales from the IC : Rowed runner intervals and hot lava! (#9) healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (third week of daily rowing and missing running)
Tales from the IC (#10): Running vs Rowing. My experience of two different worlds healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (differences between rowing and running, differences between different running vs rowing online communities, differences in stats)
Tales from the IC (#11): I dreamt I was running healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (update on all virtual rowing challenges)
Tales from the IC (#12): Strong knees and cute toes healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (finished Jan rowing challenges, starting to think how to get back to running)
Tales from the IC (#13): Running vs Rowing, muscley toes, and recovery plans healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... (recovery plans rowing and running, year goals)
