Diary of an injured runner

Take 4,397 !!

The diary of an injured runner ...

Chapter 1 - anger, avoidance, denial, acceptance ...

8 days since I last ran, it's actually been nice to take a break from running. Just forget about it and relax. Tying that in with an injury and not trying to constantly get back every day really recharged my batteries and I'm ready to start again.

Will jog today. I think it's important to realise myself that this is not going to be totally ache free - there will be some aches and pains - there always is.

I may need another week of R&R, or maybe even more massage / physio. Accept the fact and move on ! All being well though I will get round a run with minimal fuss.

Weight was fantastic last week, still sub 10 st 7 on Friday BUT a weekend away eating and boozing and I had ballooned to 10 st 9 so a return right now is fairly needed !!

I will do lots of pre-had - stretch routing, glute activation every day and follow up with glute / low back strength daily just to keep in check.

New plan will be to build fairly drastically once the old bones are used to running again.

So - out the door ans started VERY gingerly at around 10/mm up to the ford. Slowly eased back to around 7.50/mm and slightly quicker comiong back home. As expected legs were slightly achy but nothing too much to worry about.

Easy 20 min S&C afterwards too so got some decent work bagged on the rehab trail.

Happy with that. Funny enough my right arse now aches ! But I'll take this as it seems like things are on the mend. Will play each day by ear but the rough plan is to do everything at half steam this week to ease back into things.

Day 2

Ran today, still have the same aches and pains - my left hip flexor really tightened up over night. Right calf very tight daytime but seemingly no issue when running ?!

Decent run, once I got into it settled back down to pace and averaged around 7.30/mm. Started running with better form to help ease things off and seemed to help. Plan is to try and carry that forward and not go back to lazy form! Arse load of stretching and rolling to ease off and seemed to help.

Day 3

Hmm, feels better this morning but debating not running and doing lots of rehab and some light s&c. Ordered a pair of Nike Invincible last night to try and ease things back. Next few days will be critical to return, if I can run freeely soon I will be fine. If everything continues as is it'll be a long battle.

Day 4

Rested yesterday and seemed to help ease things off. Invincibles have arrived so I'll try those today. Feel better pre-run but not 100%. Easy run today - slightly longer so will see how everything goes. Ideal outcome is feeling relaxed, no increase in aches and can run fluid.

Run - slightly longer at 7.5 miles. Pace ok around 7.30s and feeling ok-ish. Actually improved as it went along. Not 100% niggle free but I would say it's OK. Lots of aches and pains after from lack of conditioning so in the Normatecs later and some rolling and gunning for sure!

Day 5

Why the fuck am I labeling these days as numbers? So today - absolutely in bits. To be fair last night my left chain (glute, calf, back) was sore.  Really at the stage of wondering why I am bothering tbh.

Going to do treadmill test today - shoes and settings. Control is VERY easy pace (11 kmph) and I'll do 10 mins each in NB Fuel Cell (my control shoe), Invincible and Vomero. Once I have a favorite I'll do 10 mins on different treadmill setting and compare the results.

It's possibly the squishy Invincibles have caused more issues. Need to check back on the blog. 

So treadmill test. TLDR :: invincibles are shit. All slow shoes are shit. Alphafly actually felt best. My hip gave me some jip, my right calf is fuckign tight and my right knee is tight. All in all I am seriously questioning if I can really be arsed with all this.

Day 6 -

Ran, felt ok at first then quickly tightened up. Pace shite, calf shite, hip ok-ish. Totally dejected after this.

Day 7 -

The do I or don't I day. Played golf, really enjoyed it. Hit the ball well mainly, couple of missed fairways but seemed a much more enjoyable way to spend a day.

Back home, did a strength set (I need to focus on these)

Pilates set, 20 x push backs each leg, 20 x fire hydrant each leg, 4 x 15 on 15 off leg raises. Into ankle weights. Side lifts 1 min hold each leg, 100 knee ups, 25 x hurdle drill each leg.

Calf felt better afterwards. Maybe this is what the doctor ordered. Will keep these up and do splits stretch set each day now and see how strength helps. Maybe, just maybe. I must admit, closest I have been to slinging the towel in and calling it a day on running. Something has to change.

Day 8 -

Massage with Jenny. Calf is bad - has popped at some stage - loosened off everything but still tight, Stay off for couple of days. Patience ...

Day 9 -

Better today, can hardly feel it. Not million % but on the way to recovery. Did same strength set but increased reps and did some lunges too. If I can maintain s&c I might have a chance. Starting to feel weight gain and feel like I have zero conditioning. Hopefully consider getting a test jog in soon. Motivation fairly low, going to be a long cold winter this year.

17 days since I did any meaningful running but pretty shocked to see I actually ran 5 days last week - albeit a dog shit 20 miles at a dog shit pace lol

Will put on the boots tonight I think and prey that I am on the home straight.

Day 10 -

OK, so time to have a tester - it's been long enough now.  Either way from here on in I've decided no technology or tracking. I'll stick soley to treadmill at first and slowly migrate. This blog post will be my training diary for future evidence !!

On to treadmill, decent warm up and felt - ok. Started at 10 kmph. 5 mins, not 100% but certainly what I would expect. 3 mins at 12 kmph and a little tighter. Stop, remove heel lift and put on compression sock. Back and and 3 mins later a bang and a pull. Shit. Ice, heat, gun. It's not real bad but it hurts. Back to the drawing board I am afraid.

The problem is always the same, coming from fitness you don't want to loose too much but each unsuccessful test sets you back. So not sure how it stands right now. Calf hurts. Still need to do rehab work to hips so that's something but the novelty is wearing off by the hour here.

Need to sort MTB tomorrow and start to do X-Training - cannot avoid any more !!

Day 11 - 

Bit the bullet and set up mtb - ordered puncture kit and plan is to do an hour a day now until I am running.

Also set on a full factory reset - I will bring in very low fitness so no point considering anything race wise (frustrating) but worst part is indoor season is very very whiffy at this stage.

Diet is meh - pretty soon I am going to start banging on weight. Why is November / December traditionally shit ??

Xtraining - s&c have been doing daily with a core / glute focus whilst calf is still fucked.

Day 12 -

Puncture before I had set out - doh - ended up doing weights. Calf still sore, no end just yet. Been a while now. Drank far too much second day in a row and ate shite. Ouch, spiral starts here. Booked to see Simon Monday week, it'll probably be ok by then lol but to be fair I would take that right now.

Day 13 -

Wow, dragging on now. Had to look back how long since I did anything! DOMS this morning from weights around hips - good sign. Need to keep hammering those tough glute and core sets to stop this re-occuring. Will not do anything today to let it settle down a bit but tomorrow I will either ride (if I can be arsed to put new tubes in) or weights again.

Actually feels like things are improving in the calf. The tender part (it's swollen and painful to tough) is becoming smaller and less painful. Will do some percussive gunning and ice again today.

Ideally no issue tomorrow and look to run once I have had a clear day when I can't feel it.

Day 14 -

Wow, a run! Just to the end of the road and back. Slow as hell BUT no pain. It's slightly tighter but didn't pull. Right, time to kick start the plan. No technology just run to feel. This week, slow increase and around 9 min miles (was probably 10s today).

S&C tonight, keep up the rolling and go again tomorrow. Long. Way. Back

Day 15 -

OK, a normal one. Day out shopping and heading out tonight to run. Plan is the 4 mile route at the track, just to get round in 1 piece. Not much in the way of pre-hab today but I'll have a good warm up.

Diet back on track from yesterday. 10 st 10 so right at the top end but getting that under control this week will really boost everything.

Fingers crossed tonight is just relaxed with no pain. If so I'll be on to the Battersea Park 5k that's coming up and that'll be my build focus. This week, the plan is to just run daily up until Friday and increase distance but keep pace low and just stay dedicated. If it works out next week I'll probably be a proper reset and get that focus back.

OK, so ran 4 miles. Leg felt OK but little tight. Post run - sore. Hmm, super floss, roll, ice, tape & ibro afterwards. Lets see what tomorrow brings but at this stage unless it's a miracle I think i'll be benched for a while

Day 16 -

What a difference a night makes! Woke up very slight ache but not too bad. Warmed up ok and ran 20 mins on treadmill (walk check every 5 mins) @ 12kmph.

Genuinely surprised with that, really did not expect to be able to run today.

For reference - voodoo supoer crush seemed to loosen it off, as did massive amounts of R8 rolling. Ice and stretching are so-so but I think the former two really helped. Wore Vomero with 3 heel raisers in and did runners loop and pulled laces pretty tight. Think these also really helped. Treadmill on road setting so firmer.

Take things slowly still but pretty happy with that after yesterday !! Positive today, first time in a long time. Feel like I am pretty much at zero though so it's going to be a LONG road back.

Will stick to treadmill I think the mental approach is massively beneficial once I get outdoors on to the roads.

Progression - keep this up unmtil Friday - 20 / 30 mins is fine. I'm away weekend then next week look to add some more pace and distance.

Entered Battersea (although might be too soon) and ordered some Takumi Sen 8 from Adidas with 30% discount !

Afternoon - calf aching so going at it with the R8 again. Nowhere as near as bad as last night so hopefully without counting my chickens.

Day 17 -

So got a longer outdoor run in. Calf ok, hit a little grumbly - expect that's just getting back in to things. Little sore thropugh the day but easily treated and the main thing now is it's not getting worse.

Day 18 - 

Very short on time as I am away so just a quick treaddy run. 5 mins @ 12 kmph then a minute ramp up to 16 kmph. Stopped at 40 secs on 16 kmph as felt as little tight and no point taking risks. Can use this in future as a tester. 12 mins done and away this afternoon drinking so nothiung now until Monday (maybe Sunday night).

Calf same - taking this as a positive until I see Simon on Monday. There's 100% something there but I can do some plodding at least.

Days 19, 20 & 21 -

On the lash, weekend off running. Came home Sunday in bits. Hungover and ill.

Day 22 - 

Out up the hill on the 5 mile out and back with Jake. 2.5 miles in feel pretty good and relaxed. On the way back a tug in the calf. Fuck. It's not good. Run / hobble back with a few stops to ease it off. Feels bad, but does ease up some in the evening. Feeling rough anyway so hopefully get both out of my system.

Day 23 - 

Roll, smash, ice, calf drops. Feeling ill and no right to run on this calf yet. Frustrating but stick to treddy tommorrow.

Day 24 -

Feel much better this morning. Long old day getting house sorted BUT run on treddy. 40 mins. 10 mins in AF - bit not ok (but not bad). Switch to VF. 10 mins OK. 2 mins to piss then back on, same again up to 40 mins (so done as 4 x 10 to break up). Listened to Inside Jogging podcast.

Calf is tight but has not pulled which is great. From now on it's treadmill with VF as often as I can (unless I run with J). Hopefully that builds conditioning. At 8/mm it felt pretty relaxed heart rate wise.

Happy with that, feels like I can build from here. Weigh about a million stone so need some consistency. If I can get a couple of weeks back doing this I should be back on it.

Will focus purely on right calf for now, as soon as that's seeming ok and I have confidence to do something with pace focus will be both sides plus glutes and core.

Day 25 -

AM - strength work - need to do this consistently JUST calf drop for now.

All day focus - eat better !!

PM - Run. Lake Loop very slow and easy (mid 8s?). Zero pain - happy days !! Best yet. Not out of the woods (obvs) but feels like this may be improvement. Hummed and ahhed about what to do - treadmill run, feeling rough so rest but decided to put on music and jog. Worked well. Felt a long way, could have pushed a little harder but def feels like it's going to be OK tomorrow.

100% need to factor in strength work around the glutes and core. Maybe do that tomorrow.

See how we go from here...

Day 26 - 

Positive lateral flow - ahhhh !! PCR test done, will await the results. Feeling a bit fluey today so makes sense. 20 mins treddy, not too bad. No heel hikes, VF and KT Tape. Felt ok but pretty slow.

Day 27 - 

Waiting on results. Feel rough so zero run day. It never rains hey !! Positivity note - once I am past this feeling rough and possible Covid it looks like I should be on track for a free run at it. Motivation pretty low but pretty keen to start again. It's a total reset - we're looking at well over a month now since anything productive happened. Not sure what the target will be, possibly a sub 7 mile at this rate !!

Day 28 -

It's positive !! No suprise. Not feeling 100% but certainly not too bad. Will not run again and possibly try tomorrow if I wake ok. 

Day 29 - 

Ahh, still phlegmy. Nasty, feel ok, slight flu but nothing major. Probably not run again today but hoping to get on the treddy soon. Wow, athletically the last 6 weeks has been an unmitigated disaster!

Day 30 -

Finally feels like it's lifting off my chest. Might be another day or two but I am finally starting to think I am on the home stretch. Thought of returning to running again feels me with a bit of dread. How do i start back from here, it'll be a full factory reset. God knows how much conditioning I have lost not to mention any longer term effects of the covid. Fingers crossed my piriformis and calf have completely settled down :/

Day 31 -

Ditto yesterday, slight improvement but not 100% with this chest. Slight ache - no ibro yet. Taste gone but body feels OK. WILL jog today - probably 10 mins shakeout on treddy to test the bones out. 

Have the bones of a recovery plan - about 12% :) - it's going to be grim for a few weeks but hopefully it'll come back fairly quick as my weight hasn't totally ballooned.

Reckon I have run 12 times since Nov 6th XC relays? Feels strange, so easy to almost forget what it's like to be a runner. Can guarantee though that any injuries carrying over from here and I'll pull the plug. If this is a false start then I am done with it. I'll jog but you can forget being competitive.

Chapter 2 - the comeback ...