It’s fair to say I am enjoying – that’s the wrong word to use – a bad patch of injuries. A few of which I can pin point as to why they are happening, with others just being bad luck!!
Don’t increase the training load by more than 10%. This is the general rule that all coaches and athletes go by. However, we all know in the real world this is not possible – not all of the time anyway. For those that are not aware of the rule it basically comes down to this: last week I did a 10 mile run – this week I should not do more than an 11 mile run – otherwise I am increasing the load by more than 10%.
Now due to a back injury, that was unrelated to training, I had to ease off on the running throughout January and February. And then there was the ankle injury……. I can hear T groaning after I once again mention the aches and pains 🙂 All of which meant that when it came to the MK Festival of Running 20 mile race on March 11th I had not done the training needed to get my body use to the distance.
As my previous post highlighted I did managed to run the 20 miles and in a time I was over the moon with. However, it has left its lasting mark on me!!! Another injury. This time bruising to the underside of my left foot – google doctor diagnosed it so it must be right.
Days after the race I could hardly walk properly or put weight on it. But by the following Friday it seemed to be feeling OK again. So I made a judgement call and decided to try an easy run off the bike; just a gentle 2.3 mile run. ERROR (seems to be a theme here for errors on my part – maybe by the end of this year I can write a blog about errors I made so you don’t have to).
In all fairness, during the run it felt OK. However, come Saturday morning I could not bear weight on it again. We are now 6 days on and the pain is still there. Although it does feel like it is easing slightly.
I am icing it daily, massaging it with the tennis ball, and ultimately trying to stay off it as much as possible – which having an office job makes that part fairly easy! I have just started popping ibuprofen, maybe I should have done this earlier, but I try not to depend on painkillers too much.
What this boils down to is that I now need more time off running. Not ideal considering the Brighton Marathon is only 3 weeks away. The hope is that by bank holiday Friday 31st March I can try a run again. This will give it 2 weeks of healing. If this goes OK then I will try to get a few more runs over the 2 weeks following this, and leading up to Brighton.
But this is where once again the 10% rule is being thrown out the window. Not being able to get the regular runs in means that my body is not getting use to these stresses, and I have that fear that if I do make it to the start line and ultimately finish the marathon it is going to be to the detriment of my body.
Will it mean another injury? Will it mean my Triathlon training gets affected? Should I just cancel the Marathon for the good of the Triathlons?
These are questions I am fighting with daily. For the time being my answer is simple. Persevere. And MTFU.
Hope you enjoy the bonus Thursday night edition this week.
The next blog will definitely be more uplifting 🙂 Roll on Sunday and I hope the peaks is ready for #BXV.
Big G
- Yep! All the time!!
Accidental Cyclist 