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Day 60–Run Done Before Another Storm

I was keen to get out this morning to test the leg before making a decision on whether to race on Sunday. The rain just began to fall as I was heading out – mercifully it was light and was nothing compared to the storm that blew in literally minutes after I finished the run.

From the off things felt reasonable, I was running easily and mostly without discomfort. In the final mile or so I put in a concerted effort to run at around the sort of pace I would like to run Sunday. There was a little tightness in the right leg, but nothing out of the ordinary, and actually feeling pretty good considering the battering they received during massage the day before.

So finished the run with the intention of racing Sunday, subject to not picking up the sickness bug my eldest daughter has been off sick with today and that the pains running down my right leg can be easily relieved with a little massage and stretching to be carried out shortly.

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Day 59–At Times I Wonder Why I Do This

I had a timely sports massage booked for the afternoon so I opted to put in a banker run in the morning in case I came out off the massage table in no fit state to run.

With no ill effects from yesterday’s run I set off to do the regular 6.15 mile run out to Dysart Park and back. Pleasingly it was an unspectacular run with very little in the way of discomfort – a few aches on the right quad early on and some tingling on the inner thigh near – otherwise nothing. I was putting in very little effort which made it quite pleasing I averaged 6:56 per mile, the second half significantly quicker thanks to a tasty tail wind – albeit no where near as strong as the gales that battered us and the rest of the country through the afternoon yesterday and into the night.

The run over, it was just a couple of hours and I was with David, my massage therapist. After five minutes of detailing my physical breakdown over the past couple of weeks, he set about putting things to rights. It was, at times, hellishly painful: when you have a thumb stuck deep into an already tender groin, you do wonder why on earth I do what I do to leave myself in a position where this treatment is necessary.

After 50 minutes or so the session was over. We’d found evidence of previous pulls (Presumably when I slipped on the club Christmas Eve run) halfway down the inner thigh, in the groin and tightening of the Psoas. David warned me I would be quite tender for a day or so and suggested ice when I got home. We also went through some stretches I can do  to help the Psoas.

As he predicted the area was soon sore so any thoughts of running again in the evening was put to one side: be thankful that I was at least able to run in the morning and that he thought I should be okay to race on Sunday – although he advised against racing too hard and to think of the bigger picture.

He is, of course right. It is too tempting to ignore the fact I have been and am injured and to resume full training as if nothing happened. What I need to do is to build the mileage and intensity up slowly, assured in the knowledge that the past months of solid training should hold me in good stead come April.

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Day 58–Systems Check: Room For Optimism?

On Monday after picking my daughter up from school we went firstly to the library and then on to Sports Direct when I was delighted to see they had a hockey ball on sale for £2.49. My Trigger Therapy ball has long ago become misshapen and a little too soft to be of any real use. My hip, groin, and piraformis was crying out for something a little harder and a hockey ball is certainly that.

I played with it a little during my another day off from exercise yesterday, but used it in real anger this morning, working for a long time on the hip and the piraformis, then finding I could release a lot of tightness in the hamstring by rolling on it whilst sitting on a chair, and could do likewise with the groin. After an hour or so of work I could stretch the hamstring without tightness and I decided to test the leg with a short run – no more than twenty minutes.

Considering it was painful to even walk on Sunday by the end of the run, I wasn’t expecting much, but happily there was little in the way of discomfort, running freely and without restriction. There was though in the final half mile a familiar feeling in the lower inner thigh, no pain but touching the area at the end of the run suggested something is still pulling on a tendon or muscle. Still considering where I was at on Sunday there is a sign of hope.

I had planned on doing another three miles or so in the evening but the mother of all storms is hitting the country and, frankly, I’d rather not risk killing myself for some miles that I may well be better off not doing.

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Day 56–On The Bike

With any thought of running in the foreseeable future supressed as much as possible to the back of the mind – to avoid rampant depression and extreme likelihood of injuring myself further should I succumb to temptation and don the trainers – I made a late decision to go out on a bike ride. The sun was shining and the wind had mercifully dropped after a week or more of very strong winds.

I should have gone out on the racing bike, but that is currently out of reach due to a huge number of empty boxes and other junk blocking access to the bike bag which contains bike, helmet, gloves cycling shoes etc.. Fortunately I had a back up in cheap hybrid bike I brought in September principally as a means to get around town quickly – it’s far quicker than being in the car at most times of day here in Grantham. I had to improvise somewhat with the clothing as I’ve long ago discarded most of my winter cycling gear – the most disturbing prospects of cycling was doing so with a skateboard helmet and a pair of trainers with not even toe clips to help drive the power efficiently. Hardly the most professional set up.

It was surprising then that I managed to complete 25 miles at an average of 17mph – not a million miles away from what I might do on a racing bike. I struggled on the drags and the hills (usually my strong point on a bike but not today) but was otherwise reasonably fast and enjoyed doing some exercise. I do enjoy cycling – as a kid I preferred it much more to running. I just live in perennial fear of puncturing or crashing which is the main reason I don’t cycle more, that and the time it takes up putting in a decent ride.

Unfortunately the ride was not pain free. I remember when I cycled into town at the beginning of January the groin and hip was painful – something I’ve never experienced on a bike. I was fine today for the first fifty minutes or so, but then there was a puling sensation from the groin down to the knee along the inner thigh. I think until I see someone there is little point in risking further injury.

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Day 55–Rock Bottom

Things are not looking good for Project Sub 2:45. I’d go as far as to say if the marathon were held this weekend not only would I not have finished, I would have struggled massively to make it to halfway. the frustrating thing is I’m still not totally sure what the injury is or what is causing it. I need to find a Physio in Grantham and fast!

After two days off to let the injury rest a bit – plenty of massage, but, in hindsight, probably not enough stretching – I decided to head out this Sunday morning with the intention of running long. I’d decided though to stay local in case the injury became unbearable – a move that proved to be prophetic.

As with Thursday the opening mile or two were trouble free, running reasonably swiftly despite the gale force winds battering me or pushing me along depending on the direction I was running in. Then the little worrying signs began to kick in: the slight ache in the groin; a heavy feeling in the quad; then discomfort that began to radiate down the inner thigh before settling just above the knee, moving from the side to the back; a sharp pain in the lower hamstring which sporadically came to affect the calf.

The difference between today’s run and Thursday’s was that it took around 8 miles for the pain to kick in on Thursday and only became a big problem in the final couple of miles; today between it being a niggle at five miles I could cope with, by the time I’d navigated a steep climb and descent at six miles, I was stopping every couple of hundred meters and could barely shuffle along.

I decided to abandon the run and head home. I was a couple of miles away – at 7.6 miles I had to stop and walk for around 10 minutes as the pain was too much to run. I was then able to run slowly home with some considerable discomfort, any thoughts of running further dismissed without hesitation.

Once home and the post mortem began. I’ve working on the idea of it hopefully being Piraformis Sydrome but I’ve quietly resigned to it probably being something which will take longer to fix. Time to dust off the bike or find a gym…