False Dawn

The title is a bit dramatic isn't it?!

Entering Lakeland 100 did feel like the start of a new and exciting journey though and to be fair it still is. But to be hit with injuries the very same weekend that I entered has been tough. I've got all this energy and excitement that I want to channel into my running and I can't.

I visited my physio last Tuesday. Nick at City Physio in Manchester's St Anne's Square. I've found him really good so far. It's only the second time I've been to see him (Ro is credited with discovering him) but I've got confidence in him already.

He suggested 3 exercises for the neck/back/posture problems I've been having - the funky chicken once an hour when at work!! And a couple of others to do at home.

He thought my quad and foot problems were related and, as suspected, stem from a weakness in my piriformis/glute on the right. Again, he's suggested 3 more exercises to strengthen this area.

My foot is likely to be tendinitis and he said he expected it to take a bit more than the 2 weeks I've got until High Peak 40 to heal, but with lots of the above exercises (twice a day), lots of ice on the foot (20 mins of every hour that is convenient), it is not impossible to get through the race, but he thought Round Rotherham 50 a month later would be a more realistic bet.

He made the point that if I did choose to run HP40 and it wasn't fully healed I would make it worse, but he recognised that I would then at least have 4 weeks for it to recover properly before RR50.

I don't think I was any closer to knowing what to do!

I chatted to Ro about it that night and sent Nick a quick follow up email. I asked him what I should do if I decided not to run HP40. He advised me to use the stairs as a guide for the quads improvement. Ideally, pain free and then about a further 5-7 days

Correction/improvement of the lower limb position (my foot) would come as a result of improved stability around the hip, but this is a slower process. It should be better at 3 weeks due to improved muscle co-ordination etc., but measurably stronger at 6 weeks! Nick expects me to be able to run somewhere between 3-4 weeks. 

So that's at least another couple of weeks from now before I should start running again. A week before RR50. My first 'test run' I'm advised to keep sensible to avoid too much aggravation e.g. 5 miles. Not 50 then?!

So where does that leave me. Well, I'm doing pretty well with the exercises. I'm going to gym almost every lunchtime and I'm going to start swimming after work a couple of times a week from this week. In reality though, whilst I've felt a little improvement in the quad, it's going to be another couple of weeks before I can even do a test run and I don't wat to rush it. I want to give the injuries time to heal. 

In a nutshell, I'm going to miss my last two races of the year. 

My focus though is Lakeland 100 next year. I've got a recce coming up on 10th November. If I can start running again at the start of October then I've got 5 weeks to build back up again and go into that feeling good. Feeling fresh. Then I can start some proper winter training, including lots of night running, which I need to get good at. 

In short, I've just got to be patient. Sigh.