Hmmm... injury

Every runner's worst scenario... not being able to run. Things haven't been quite right for about 2 months now. Little niggies here and there which it seems have esclated. I can trace this back to exactly the point where I got injured. July 3rd, Glasgow city centre. Paranoid about trying to get training runs in whilst on a stag do, I ventured out for a quick 30 minute job before heading out on the piss with the boys. In my rush I forgot to warm-up and went straight out. 20 minutes in I felt my calf go.

I was actually relatively sensible and rested up for a few days, just over a week before the Hunter Valley marathon. That came and went OK (well more than OK, I ran a PB!), and then Wagga came up and 17kms in, I felt it go again, but soldier on I did, and the week after, running the Mudgee marathon, but in a bit of pain, and then the knee started giving me jip. So here we are, two months later.

I rested all week last week, and went out again for a bit of a tester run last night. Not good - pulling short after 25 minutes. The knee is a strange one. It's not a sharp pain, more like a dull ache. As such I dont know how bad it is. Is it that bad? I ran a bloody marathon with it. However the calf, or rather soleus (muscle just below the calf) is annoying me now. It keeps on pulling and tugging at me whilst I run, threatening to fully go, but not quite going over the edge completely.

I'm off to the physio at lunchtime, but what do I do? I'm loathed to rest, although I know this is what I should do. I hate resting, I dont want to lose fitness. I did that for a month last year and was amazed how much fitness I lost, although I wasn't properly up and training then.

Have I overdone it on the races? Maybe 3 marathons in 5 weeks is going some, and racing them all quite hard apart from the last one. There's also been no real taper either, and coupled with this, I did some shorter sprint races in between, and no rest for those either.

It's concerning me as my training is getting thrown all over the place a little. The second stage of my training started well in May, with some solid high milage - avergaing 45 miles a week. June pretty good, but July was a mess. August was slightly better, with 3 solid races in 3 weeks and that kept me ticking over. However things have to ramp up big time post the Glasshouse race in 2 weeks time. I've set myself a goal of 5/6 months of really building up the miles, peaking in late Jan/early Feb at around 100 miles a week, before tapering.

However we'll have to see what the knee outcome is. If I must I'd be prepared to rest completely before the Glasshouse race (if anything I'll be totally refreshed!). This is a big test of where I'm at and what need to do. Strangely I'm not nervous about it at the moment, except for any potential injury. As I found out, running 42.195kms with a dodgy knee and calf was not pleasant!

It shouldn't all be negative. I'm actually in a pretty good position and if I'm honest, ahead of where I thought I'd be at come this stage of the training. However an enforced rest could bugger up a lot of this. We shall see how we go...

__________________________________________________________

Physio update!

Not really that much more conclusive to be honest. Might possibly go for an MRI, but we're trying one more thing. The lovely lady reckons that I my knee cap moves in a funnny position, so we've taped it up to limit it's movement to one side and going to give that a go. So with this, I'll try and run tonight and see what happens. Failing that, we're off for an MRI to see what's going on. Still doing the Glasshouse House though, I'll bloody walk it if I have to!

550kms + 42.2 kms

That's how far I drove in 12 hours to go and run a marathon - albeit a very lovely marathon in Mudgee, about 3 hours northwest of Sydney. I have to question my own sanity sometimes. I got up at 2:30am on Sunday morning, drove 3 hours and was on the startline at Mudgee for 7am.

As you'll have read from previous posts, this was always one of those touch and go ones for me. I struggled in the second half of Wagga, straining my left knee ligament and also a strain on my left soleus muscle. However it cleared up well during the week and felt OK. However the reality was that it was still not better, as the first 2kms of the marathon told me.

In fact, the first 10kms were really quite tough, the reality of getting last week's marathon out of the legs. However from 10-32kms, things were actually OK, and I really started to enjoy it. I deliberately set out pretty slow as I have one eye on the Glasshouse 100km in 3 weeks. The plan was to do around 1hr 50min splits, coming in at around 3hr 40min. All went well for the first half and the pace was very comfortable, however at 32kms, the injury and the effects of last week really started to catch-up with me.

At 32kms the wheels came off again and mentally, the next 5kms were probably the toughest 5kms I've run. I was a little disappointed with myself as I felt that I lost the mental battle somewhat. I resigned myself to walking up some of the hills, when really I should have dug deep and run. I guess it's a fine balance though, given that I was running with an injury or two - but personally I feel like I let myself down a bit on this section. However at 37kms I had a word with myself and managed to polish the final 5kms off OK coming home in a personal worst 3hrs 46mins. OK, so in the grand scheme of things 6 minutes slower than I was going to run, but I know where those 6 minutes went, and I'll toughen up a bit more ahead of Glasshouse. I'll also hopefully have the injuries cleared as well.

Good to see some of the other guys from Wagga Wagga, and also to Anth who ran a PB, top work on the back of last week's very challenging run. Looking back I didn't realise it, but I've done a race every weekend for the last 5 weeks, 3 marathons and 2 shorter 'sprint' races of 7kms and 14kms. The body is somewhat tired now, so I'll be having a rest of 3-4 days, before some light running towards the end of the week and the weekend.

In terms of where I'm at for the MDS, things are looking pretty good. I wanted to get to a stage where I run back-to-back marathons, and I've achieved this and the body actually feels OK post run (just the niggles I mentioned). In the grand scheme of things, 6 minutes doesn't matter and I'm happier about the fact that I've done the back to back's and in respectable times too. So a bit of rest, a few lighter weeks of about 50kms and then Glasshouse House!

Mudgee Marathon

So, I went for a little jaunt on Wednesday evening and given that I'd only had two full days of rest, I felt OK. Admittedly this was just a nice easy 10kms, and was very slow (54 mins), but I didn't feel too shabby.

It's been a tough call as to whether or not I was going to enter Mudgee, but I know I'll regret it if I don't. I just hope I don't regret it for the wrong reasons come race day. The knee is OK. I can still feel a slight strain on the ligament, and the soleus is still tight, but I really will be taking this one nice and slow, around 3:40 pace I think. So rather than blasting out of the blocks again like last weekend, this weekend will be sure and steady from the start, then I'll see how I go for the second 21kms.

However it will be an early start for me. Rather than stay in a hotel the night before, I'm going to head off at 3am and get there for around 6:30am. Hopefully all will go OK, and this will be a great test of where I'm at ahead of the Glasshouse 100km race in 3 weeks time. It seems funny to see where I've come, but running back-to-back marathons like this would have been beyond me even 4 months ago. It still might be, who knows, but I have to have a go. It's going to hurt, but I'll just tell myself to keep it steady and just get through it ahead of Glasshouse with no major injuries. I already have two minor strains on the go, I don't want to make them any worse. Of course the sensible head on me would have passed this marathon, but I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now and really want to do 2 in 7 days. If I'm serious about running well in the MDS, then I have to do this - fingers crossed without doing myself some serious damage! As a result, training has been light this week (just the 10kms), but that's cool.

Marathon Man

So two days after the Wagga Wagga trail marathon, I'm raring to go for this weekend's Mudgee marathon. The only thing stopping me is the diagnosis from a trip to the physio yesterday. I have a slight strain in one of my ligaments on my left knee. Which has been around for a while in fact. It's not overly painful or indeed that bad, but it's making me reconsider trying to do another marathon this weekend. Additionally I have a strain on the soleus muscle in my left leg too. Once again, this has been around for a little while too.

So I'm left with a few decisions. I'm going to go for a run this evening, nothing too harsh or long, but just to see how I feel, and then take a call on it me thinks. I really want to get back-to-back marathons in the bag, and plus this one is a road marathon so shouldn't be too bad, but there are some vicious hills I hear! However I know I'll have to go slower than Sunday, and I'm wondering if that will annoy me at all? Plus, I don't want to do any additional damage as I have the Glasshouse 100km lined up for September also. I signed up for this earlier in the week, and can't wait, although I wont be saying that after the race I'm sure. This will be my first ultra and I'm kind of throwing myself in at the deep end a little, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Two and a half marathon... yikes! I need to get properly prepared for this one, really sort out my food and drinks - it should be a great experience!

More of the usual with a side order of shin splints

So the usual 10km route last night. Although reading the blog of another marathon runner last night, his work rate astounds me! 26k and 28k respectively on a school night! How the hell can you fit that into the day. I guess you make time for that kind of thing really if you want to! But considering I'm running an ultra in March, it makes me think I should be upping my game somewhat! Anyway, I will stick to my plan!

So last night was in all truth a frigging nightmare of a run as the shin splints were terrible. With 3-4 days to go before a marathon, it really worries me, but I know they tend to come and go quite quickly with no rhyme or reason. As I mentioned before I think a lot of it has to do with the cold weather, and at the moment I really want it to warm-up. It's funny that when I speed up, the shins start to hurt less, but there's no way I can keep that kind of pace going for 42kms. So ironically, even though I felt like I was going backwards at some points, I ran the route in 47 minutes, 2 minutes quicker than last night when I felt like I was bouncing along. There is no reason really...

So tonight I'm not running, going to rest the shins, even though I feel I could go out. And think I'll do a casual 10kms on Friday night ahead of the race on Sunday. The plan is to go steady I think, as I want myself to be in shape for a run in Mudgee the following weekend. So cold ice and lots of stretching is order of the day this evening!

The usual...

So back on the grind... God I make it sound interesting don't I? :) A very chilled 10kms in 49 mins, with some hill strides thrown in for measure. A little worryingly was the fact that my shins really started to hurt last night. I do think that it's simple down to cold weather, I never got this in the summer. So after the 10kms, I did a couple of hill sprints on the hill I live on, which is a rather nasty 200m climb, and about a 1:11 gradient, so a good workout. So I did 4 of those, and then called it a night. I'll keep on with a fairly normal training programme during this week, 6 miles a night, and then marathon on Sunday. Not quite sure how to take this one. I really want to do back-to-back marathons, and do another one next Sunday. In theory I should take this one fairly slow and do it in around 3:45mins pace, but knowing me I won't. So I'll probably bust a gut, and then see how I feel, but really want to try and do 2 on the trot!