Gotta love Adrenaline...

So I last left you feeling very sorry for myself with an injury that just wasn’t budging-although in hindsight I was being far too impatient, it had only been 2 weeks! So a further week of rest, ice, Pilates-based exercises, stretches and many a foam roller sesh I thought I’d attend the running club for a 2 x 3000m training session as the niggles had stopped.

Warm-up went ok, 1^st 3000m, still alright then the standing recovery, fine-then as I started the 2^nd 3000m it started with a vengeance, back home with an ice pack I figured that was it, I’d give my place to someone else as there was a stand-by waiting list…..but my knee recovered within 24 hours (this was not the case before). So not wanting to make any rash decisions I thought I’d wait until nearer the time (much to Matt disapproval!). I swam once and went on a slow 5 mile run the Friday before the big day and I won’t say it was ‘perfect’ but it would do…I was running, rain or shine……oh and did it RAIN!!!?

It started off a little ‘spitty’, luckily the gale force winds had calmed down from the few days before, but the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier, I felt a little niggle in my knee around the 4 mile mark following a very steep downhill stretch, but then I think adrenaline kicked in and rather that it getting gradually worse over the course of the race, it simply disappeared-RESULT!!

I managed to keep up a pretty good pace considering I’d only ran 3 times over the last 4 weeks  (again I think adrenaline had a major part to play) and I finished with a very satisfying time of 1:13:25 (1:13:44 gun time), 201^st overall and 14^th lady! Soaked to the bone but a better result than I could have hoped for considering the lack of preparation. Great way to end 2011 if I do say so myself!

www.race-results.co.uk/results/2011/stock11.pdf

Back to the core...

So guess what, I’m injured again :o(

Just as it was all going so well, a good 1^st marathon time and consistent park run PB’s, then BAM-PAIN!!! (typical as I’d also just joined ‘run Britain’ and obtained a Handicap and position in the national ladder so had more to work with!!) www.runbritainrankings.com/runners/profile.aspx?athleteid=411483

 

This time instead of the usual left leg niggles in my hip, thigh or knee, it’s the right - coming out in sympathy maybe, or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to it when treating my left? Who knows, the body is a weird thing. And my left leg is now better than it’s been in a loooong while-so I’m pretty gutted really!

It all started following a great Harriers session 2 weeks ago, I’d had a pretty lazy weekend and felt a bit guilty as I’d missed a Sunday long run with my running buddy, so I decided to run to and from the Harriers as well as take part in the session which was 6x800m reps. It was a brilliant session and I improved during each 800m and got a few compliments from some of the coaches about how much I’d improved-ran home and was grand! A round trip of 13 miles, made up for the weekend!

Had a rest day the following day as I was working a late clinic, then on Wednesday thought I’d go for a ‘short fast’ run before heading out to meet some friends. Within the first 5 minutes I knew something wasn’t quite right, a slight niggle on the outside of my right knee, then I hit a downhill section only to experience an excruciating knife-like pain right under and lateral to my patella-I couldn’t continue and had to turn round and walk/hobble back (by which time I was 1.5 miles away).

This was BAD!!!

So that was 2 weeks ago today-I’ve done the usual self diagnosis and worked on a few things, also had a colleague who specializes in knees to have a quick look between patients, the diagnosis-Patello-femoral pain syndrome due to weak core (surprise surprise), tight hip flexors and a tight weak ITB-Grrrrr!!!

I did all the stretches, got going on the foam roller again and have done some core strengthening, taped it, iced it – you name it I did it, kept my CV fitness up with swimming (Yawwwwwn). Was all ready to go back to the Harriers today or so I thought before yesterday….so what did I do yesterday? Went for a 16 mile Hike in the Peaks…….serves me right??? Well interestingly all the huffing and puffing uphill was totally fine, it was the damn descent again that made my knee scream. So now I sit here again with an ice pack in situ, utterly fed up- am I going to make it for the Stockport 10mile in 2 weeks…..? Watch this space!

Chester Marathon 'D' day...

So yesterday was THE day of the marathon that I’ve been training for rigidly for the last 16 + weeks. I had been getting increasingly nervous over the last couples of week-all the usual doubts…have I done enough long runs? Did I do enough hill training sessions? How do I taper and what the hell do I eat to ‘carb-load’!!??

Along with the doubts were the niggles that I kept getting, right up to the week before when on a 6 mile, relatively slow run my left calf cramped up out of the blue and I was struggling to walk for 3 days or so! Luckily my knowledge (being a Physio) has been a godsend and I have managed to come out completely unscathed and injury free- a miracle you could say (I’m still slightly shocked and anticipating some kind of pain/injury to set in!).

It’s all been a bit of learning curve for me, but judging by the day, I think I manage to do all the right things……..

So it was an EARLY start, being advised to arrive at the venue around 7:30 and no later than 8:15 due to road closures, we were up at 5:30-for a Sunday morning this is no fun, but my dedicated husband and parents were up an ready to leave by 6:30 (it was still dark!!). As all the running literature advises, its best not to try ‘new things’ on a race day so I had my usual brekkie 3 hours before hand, followed by my banana 1 hour before!

I had mega butterflies in my stomach the whole way, Matt was trying to keep me calm and collected, we arrived by 7:30 to a steady stream of traffic entering-everyone looked so elite but I guess that’s how everyone looks when you start to doubt yourself! I visited the toilet, had a wonder around, visited the toilet, agreed on a meeting place, visited the toilet, and made our way to the starting pens, visited the toilet (yes 4 times in 1.5 hours-must be record!) and caught up with my running buddy Jason before having our ‘before’ photos taken, then we were there, lined up at the start, we went for the sub 4 hour starting pen. The tannoy announced a few things and to be honest I can’t remember any of it-other than something long the lines of 4000+ runners and perfect weather-then we were off. Jason and I had agreed to stick together for as long as we could, running at an 8.5 minute mile pace. Anyone who has done races before will know its pretty difficult to get into the right stride for the 1^st couple of miles, what with all the bottle necks and crowds weaving in and out of one another, but once we were out in the countryside we manage to settle to a reasonably steady pace slowing slightly up a 2-3 mile steady incline around 12-15 miles. There were drinks stations every 3 miles and I had been told to take water at each one-even if I wasn’t thirsty as once thirst sets in, its generally too late (I was a little worried about this theory as, believe it or not I needed the toilet AGAIN before the starting gun went off!!!) I’m not one for the isotonic drinks so stuck with the water and my pouch full of jelly babies.

At 16 mile Jason decided to slow his pace to 9 a minute mile as he was starting to feel it a bit, I was keen to continue as I felt ok so we agreed to see each other at the finish. After this my next few miles were all over the place some in the early 8’s and others in the early 9’s-its much more difficult to pace yourself on your own-even if you do have a GPS with a virtual partner on it!! To be fair there were a few hills going through the villages and few stretches with a lot of fab spectators cheering us on-always helps give you a boost when energy starts to dwindle! Those next few miles all seemed to blur a bit then I hit 22-brand new territory, a bit of fear as I was wondering if I would hit the ‘wall’. There were certainly a few other runners that did (one girls was running sideways for a few meters before collapsing into her boyfriend’s arms-while insisting she was fine and could carry on-he was having done of it!). My wall thankfully never came and at 25 miles I thought ‘sod it’ I can go a bit faster, my last 2 miles clocked in at 8:11 and 7:47 pace-adrenaline is awesome!!! (see pic above taken in the last mile by hubbie cheering me on from the walls around Chester).

All in all a very satisfying race day and first marathon, I think Matt and my parents were proud (and maybe a little shocked) that I manage it in the time I did, I’m still grinning!

Now I feel ready for the next one-bring it :o)


For anyone interested-here's my Garmin data...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/120253459 

Looooooooooong Run...

Hey peeps, sorry not blogged for a bit, been far too busy training J

So today on the plan was a 22 miler-the longest ‘til the big day, as you know I did 18 a couple of weeks ago, and also managed to sneak in a cheeky 20 with my devoted husband cycling along side me with jelly babies and water. So today was 22 with my running buddy Jason.  I’ve been working on that gammy leg by the way and ‘touch wood’ no new niggles. Got a new pair of trainers to break in before the big day-still shiny a white but I noticed today they are already wearing away on the inside-very irritating! Not sure if it’s a manufacturing fault or just my feet!!!

Due to a bit of apprehension of both Jason’s and my part we decided to strategically place his car en route with fuel at about 13 miles seeing as we had no bike-aid today!! We agreed on aiming at a pace of around 8:45, however as usual we ‘felt good’ so started out at 8:30…..and carried on at this pace until-well actually I though around mile 15-16 however looking at the Garmin data it looks like maybe we reduced our pace much earlier although it certainly didn’t feel like it. By this stage my legs were feeling it (probably something to do with the 5KPB I got yesterday during the hilly park run!!!). So we decided to slow a little aiming at our original plan of 8:45, which turned to 9ish then 10!!!!! Argh, the legs were ‘LEAD’. Then the niggle…..not my usual niggle though, oh no a whole new one L In my right knee this time, my right leg has NEVER moaned. We plodded on noticeably getting slower by the minute, then hit a few road crossings-note to self, DO NOT stop moving your legs while waiting for the green man! It’s like trying to move through treacle with a head wind uphill-not good!!

Note the decline in pace around 16 miles!!

Anyway we made it home, in one piece (just), we reached 22 miles about ½ mile from home so walked/hobbled the rest of the way, no thanks to Matt driving by beeping and waving-yeah thanks for the lift!!!

Check out the leg...

During the last park run I did, Matt was chief photographer and it wasn’t until we were looking at the photos a couple of days later that I noticed just how bad my lower limb biomechanics are :o(

Looking at this picture I’m sure you can see that my left leg (the ‘dodgy one’) is massively rotating inwards as I’m swinging the leg through, no-wonder I get injured so easily, my gluteal muscles are clearly crap! My left knee wants to kiss my right knee, and although I don’t have a picture of the same stance on the opposite side, I’m pretty sure the problem is not as severe, and I certainly haven’t had any symptoms to tell me otherwise!

So where did these problems all start?  That is the question. Could it be something that’s been building over the years of misuse or being very right-handed/footed? Or maybe a congenital problem? I know for a fact that my mum has hip dysplasia so could I have it too? and if I do would it present like this? On the other hand could it be due to my flat feet? So many questions and as a physiotherapist it’s always easy to assess others and give out professional opinion on diagnosis but there’s always the question of what came first the chicken or the egg!?  Did my thigh pain come as a result of flat feet, or did my flat feet come from dodgy hips and weak gluts!? Who knows and does it really matter? At the end of the day lets treat what we see (refer back to photo). Going back to one my first blog posts about my form (31^st July2011), this picture shows a classic example of the twister-see how my arm is crossing over my body and my hip is twisting inwards (internally rotating). Ideally the toes on the left foot should be facing the floor, NOT the opposite ankle argh!!

So it seems after all my ‘form’ practice, its not quite there yet-I’ll keep working on it- lunges, squats, single leg dips, clams and continuing with the old ITB foam roller is much required and for much longer I’d say before its perfect….and maybe I really do need to think about a regular Pilates fix...or running barefoot to get the muscle we were made with working properly again!?

What I have learned from this is that no matter how you think you run, there’s nothing forgiving about a photo/video so get someone to snap you and you can start working on any issues you seems to have!

Good luck!  

OMG

(oh my Garmin!!!)

So I'm sure u remember when I first starting to rant and moan about my bleeping poorly Garmin a couple of weeks ago which was irritating both myself and other runners during my first park run!? Well since then I got in touch with the nice and extremely helpful people at Garmin who went through some trouble shooting with me but unfortunately nothing seemed to be working so I had to pack him up and send him off to be fixed :( I've coped ok, running with a buddy helps and iPhone apps are always easy to fall back on although having no way to carry my phone was a bit

pants-tucking it under my sweatband was uncomfortable, precarious and very inconvenient if I was to have any idea of my current pace or distance. The sensitive touch screen meant that every time I tried to pull back the sweatband to see how far I’d run, I ended up at the home screen or opening up another random app! Anyway after a week and a

bit UPS pulled up and yippee my Garmin - just in time for a trip to my parents down in Cambridge and a scheduled 18-20 miler phew! Only it wasn't my Garmin... They'd only gone and sent a brand spanking new one-Score!!! :) How's that for customer service! With a full year warranty to boot. So now I will no longer feel lost in transition while running (slightly worrying how reliant you can become on the old GPS)!

So three days later I’m back home having secured a new 5k PB of 20:52 at Milton country park in Cambridge (second female to a 12 year old who’s mother was very unimpressed that her other daughter wasn’t second!!) ahhhh well!

Then just yesterday I did an epic 18 miles accompanied by my wonderful mum (on her bike) who helped me along the way providing jelly babies, water and encouragement. Scenic views along the way and a torrential rain down pour made it more bearable, although for mum just cold and wet :o( !! Towards the end of the 18 miles, my legs started to cease up so mum and I decided it would be a good idea to take Eddy Izzards ‘Marathon man’ advice of an ice-bath (in my case just a bloody cold bath as not enough ice cubes to fill a bath), I lasted all of 5 minutes before caving in to a hot shower!! And the banana and strawberry smoothie a-la-mum for recovery was awesome J

But today I am ache-free so maybe there is something in the ice bath theory and protein recovery shake?

EPIC FAIL...(ish)

So after a week of building up and hoping to be first lady again, it all went to pot on the day. I suppose everyone has good and bad days and in theory this should have been an easy win, however drinking too much water before leaving, and arriving late are two bad combinations for success!!! Walking from the car park to the start line, hubbie in tow to take photos, he tells me ‘you have 3 minutes’!

PANIC, I need the loo first argh!! So I leg it to the track and everyone is braced and ready to start, the usual pre-run brief is happening so I just say to myself, hold I in, it’s only 3.1 miles, be over in 20ish minutes, then I can go.

On your marks, get set, GO….and were off!.....uh oh this isn’t good, round the track and out onto the park, Matts to my left snapping away and I just think, I’ve gotta go, so spin round and run back to the club house. Shouts from fellow runners ‘you can’t give up that easily’ (thanks Simon!), and Matt-‘well you’ve blown it now’-I’m sorry but I have no choice-really didn’t want to do a Paula Radcliffe on a 5K park run! Ironic really as this is the running club she trained at as a junior! Once I’m out of the loo pretty much everyone is out of the track and on the park, right sod it just go for it…….I feel light and energetic so maybe this won’t turn out too bad after all, overtake a few mums running with buggy’s, a guy with a dog and a few chilled out runners having a chin-wag while ‘jogging’, they’re obviously not too fussed about getting a PB, down the slop, round a corner and hear a shout ‘go Sam’…its one of my patients who volunteers to marshal the park runs! argh-how embarrassing, the steep hill hits but its all good-I have energy in my legs (must have been that banana I had before I left), overtake a few more people puffing and panting, and a guy with a kid on his shoulders-good on him, round the corner about half way and Matts there on a bench camera at the ready-‘smile’ J (see pic!!)...

Suddenly I notice there is only a few ladies in front-hmmm maybe I can come near the top/1st after all, come on legs and lungs lets get ‘em! Down the slope again more encouraging shouts from my patient really help especially as the killer hill is coming up again, second time round always a feels like running through treacle!! Ahhh back onto the flat and I can see the finish, round into the track, Matt encouraging me ‘your third lady’!...well that I wasn’t expecting, I wonder if I would have got a PB if it wasn’t for the pit stop? So I did it in 23:25, only 1 minute 16 seconds after the first lady-YAY!! Not so annoyed with myself after all!