Category Archives: Injuries

Injuries

Keeping up diligence with my ITBS physio exercises

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This isn’t easy.  It’s never been easy to maintain a fixed regimen of daily, tedious, repetitive, and in this case distinctly painful exercises. My routine involves:

  1. Morning rolls on the foam roller – 3x sets of 10 with pauses on the particular pain points for as long as I can bear. I started just on the injured side but am extended to both legs as my left side seems pretty tight too.
  2. Knee bends – 3x set of 10, one legged, slow, pointing my kneecap between my second and third toes (working against my tendency to roll in). Just the right leg at the moment.
  3. Standing on one leg for 2 minutes (more uncomfortable than it sounds)
  4. Hamstring stretches

I’m probably worst at forcing discipline with (4), as is always the issue with stretching.

However, between my newfound passion for running and determination to get on the road again, and my primary external motivating factor (wanting to be in shape and impress my beautiful, increasingly pregnant wife who is understandably scornful about my determinations on quantifying pain) – I’m managing something of a routine. As I head to the village this weekend, I take with me a foam roller and all the willpower I can muster.

Wish me luck – hopefully next week I hop, which is the last recovery stage before being allowed out on the roads again – but it might be a couple of weeks yet!

Postscript: Sorry this is turning into an injury blog at the moment. normal running service will resume soon as I can manage it!

Injuries

These feet are made for… falling over

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ITBS Physio session number 3: I learn how to bend my knee.

Single knee dips are my focus for the week – trying to do so without rolling my right kneecap in or my pelvis sideways, both tendencies I have. The former is a consequence, apparently, of my flatfootedness and tendency to pronate.

Upshot of all of this is lots more physio over the next couple of weeks, lots more painful rolling on reinforced foam rollers, lots of hamstring stretches and eventually – hopefully by mid/late August – I’ll be able to hop on one leg and demonstrate to Sudhir that I’m able to run again.

Giving me less than four weeks to complete my training for the half-marathon. At best.

It’s massively frustrating, and even worse my weight has gone up a bit due to poor diet control in the last month or so. I’m reinstating Gyminee this week so will try to regain control there, and keep my snout out of the office biscuit tin.

Encouragement appreciated…

Injuries

ITBS treatment: phase 2

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I had really hoped that when I saw Sudhir today that I would be given a running and schedule and sent back to resume my training. Such was not to be.

Instead, I underwent:

  • Acupuncture – which apparently works by stimulating blood flow to damaged areas that your body may have ‘forgotten’ is damaged. The 1.5 cm length of needles going into my skin didn’t hurt, surprisingly, but when Sudhir twisted them, making an analogy about slicing through a steak with a knife, the combination of the pain and the disconcerting metaphor shook me somewhat
  • Cupping – which isn’t a thing that dirty tailors do when they’re measuring you up for a suit, but a chinese massage theraphy involving the creation of suction in a cup, and then pulling that over your skin. It looks a bit bizarre but wasn’t too bad an experience.
  • A couple of other types of massage on the IT-band on my right leg.
  • Being taped up with kiniesthiotape (or something: essentially long strips of sports tape) which will stay on for a week in its bright blue splendour. The idea is to provide a passive reminder of which muscles are overtight and which are underused.

Sudhir helps sell me on this stuff by explaining in more scientific detail than I can absorb how each of these therapies is having a bio-mechanical impact on my recovery.

Tonight, I did my own remedial work at home, having received the polystyrene roller from the store I found on Amazon. It involved:

  • Rolling around on the roller, putting my weight on the IT-band. OUCH, goddamn that thing hurts. I mean really, like you wouldn’t believe.
  • Clams – to strengthen my glutes.
  • Leg raises – to loosen my hamstrings and work my quads.

And that was it. Having to do this on a daily basis will be substantially less satisfying than running, but as Sensei Paul said to me tonight, I need to shift my targets and expectations and take it at a sensible pace or I’ll risk further injury.

Next visit to Sudhir is on Tuesday; will see what comes next. First I have a weekend down the South Coast, where it will take all my will to keep the exercises up…

Injuries, Training

Iliotibial band syndrome, apparently

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I saw Sudir at the Westminister Physiotherapy centre today in a bid to heal myself faster and get myself back into my full training regimen. Good news; Sudir’s amazing blend of Eastern and Western science has a treatment programme ready for me; bad news; no running till Thursday at least and a reduced schedule whilst I heal from what he thinks is the dreaded (apparently) Iliotibial Band Syndrome (I think). Read more here.

In brief; I have an imbalance in my leg muscles, very tight in the Iliotibial band, very weak in the inner quad and glute. I have a range of dispiriting and painful stretching exercises to do and will shortly be ordering a ‘foam roller‘ and some tennis balls (!)  to help with my recovery. Other treatment will include strapping myself up with special sports tape and some acupuncture – which is a new one for me… but I trust Sudir, he’s a great guy and exudes knowledge and, for me, this translates into confidence. It could be complete BS, but it doesn’t sound like it, and his assessments all carry a logic to them that he explains as part of the consultation.

It’s massively frustrating, but good to know there isn’t a structural issue with the joint. It makes the GP’s assessment completely wrong and means that I’ll have to stretch these muscles out for the rest of my (long distance running) life, but at least there’s a plan for recovery now. Not sure I’ll be in great shape for the New Forest Half, but I’ll give it everything I got.

Anyone else had to contend with this?

Injuries, Juneathon, Running

Clambering back on the wagon

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I never know whether its good or bad to be on or off the wagon. I guess you want to be on it, right? Unless it’s going to a bad place? Let’s say it’s going to a good place.

Regardless of the state of that metaphor, I’ve been in a post-Juneathon haze. Having injured myself midway through the month but not modified my eating habits, I’ve been feeling fat and unhealthy. The attempts at runs have been tentative – I’ve done four or so 5k runs in the last couple of weeks, but given that my caloric intake has been disproportionate these haven’t really figured in either the fitness/training or the weightloss efforts.

The mysterious “they” say that the hardest thing is getting out the door. That’s true – but when you’ve allowed yourself to lose the routine, each step on the way out the door gets harder. Waking up. Getting ready. Getting past the first 2k. Not turning around at 2.5k when it would be a nice “5k” round number. Keeping momentum. Even dialling in Runkeeper to act as a motivational partner. Pushing to meet the optimistic target pace. And going the full distance you intended.

This morning, I did it. A 10k, in 60 minutes flat – a pretty good time when you remember that my personal best for 10k is 59.06 and I’ve been off for some time. I was flagging from the 8k mark – a mysterious pain in my lower back which sometimes kicks in when I’m doing longer distances – but manage to exert will, apply thumbs to the afflicted spot, and dodge traffic on the final stretch to maintain the 6 minute/kilometer pace needed. And then I cycled into work. AND the knee is OK.

Feels good. Going to take tomorrow off and see if I can manage an LSR on Sunday, but am at a wedding this weekend so efforts may vary. But hey – it’s not Juneathon anymore so I won’t feel too bad about it.

Next week: we may have a guest post from Claire, a colleague who is running the British 10k on Sunday as she fulfils a New Year’s Resolution, we will hopefully see @jimbocoyle return as he comes back from vacation and settles in to his new job… and we may even get a mystery, triathlon related guest post!

Oh, and we didn’t win Juneathon, unsurprisingly, but had great fun doing it. Thanks to the organisers, was great fun and good motivation!

Injuries, Juneathon, Running

Pounding the tarmac once more

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After a week of doctor mandated non-running, two days of warm up work and back bike rides, and a large number of sit-ups, I was back out running this morning. A beautiful day, I took off at pace, feeling the warm rush of satisfaction at enjoying a form of physical exertion. The pace, needless to say, didn’t sustain itself the whole way through the run but my 5k circuit went OK, completed in about 31 minutes, a couple of minutes off my best time for the distance but by no means slow.

The knee feels OK – slightly tentative and I’m clearly going to need to take it a lot easier than I have been – but hopefully after a week or two of relatively gentle 5k routes I’ll be able to build up to a more substantial LSR. Juneathon stats all here.

Cycling, Injuries, Juneathon, Running

The gradual reintroduction of the knee

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No run this morning, despite earlier hopes. The pollen count is literally dismantling me. However; day 21 of Juneathon has seen 80 sit-ups and the reintroduction of the (this morning, very gentle) cycle to work (so I’ve done 5.5k and it’ll be 5.3 on the return journey tonight). The knee, whilst slightly tentative, is not too bad, which is pleasing on a number of counts:

  1. One more day off – and I’ll try a run on Weds
  2. Cycling again!
  3. The doctor was right – despite the strictures of the 7 minute NHS diagnosis mandate, he saw, assessed, diagnosed and prescribed the appropriate course of action to lead to recovery

It’s less pleasing because…

  1. The doctor was right – meaning I need to take his advice and reduce my mileage. He said it should take six months of build up before I was doing the kind of distance I was doing (it’d been three) – and I only have 3 months left until the half-marathon, so need to work out an appropriate level of training

I think I’m going to aim for a post Juneathon regimen that involves merely 4 runs a week – three at three or so miles and one longer piece which I’ll vary, between 6.5 and 13 miles over the course of the build-up – my “LSR.” I’m not sure if this is sensible or not, but I hope so… Any Senseis out there with a view? I probably do need to get a running coach…

Injuries, Juneathon

Juneathon day 20

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180 sit-ups. Knee feeling back to where it was, slightly excessive tendon popping notwithstanding, so assuming the hayfever isn’t too awful I might venture a light run tomorrow morning. Will be going GPS free for a few days, so no Runkeeper data, but will keep logging my stats on there.

Also doing a Google Doc with stats including non-RunKeeper tracked data so will have final stats for the month come the 30th. Stag do next weekend I’ll need to make it through, too, so might be a bit of a painful run for the finish, but bring it on…

Injuries, Juneathon

Injury strikes

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Juneathon day 16: 60 crunches.

1 doctor’s visit.

1 week’s rest prescribed for my knee; fortunately ligaments OK and no swelling. Bags of frozen peas, ibuprofen may also help. Diagnosis: overuse. Cycling may be OK as long as it doesn’t hurt when I cycle and I don’t cycle in too low a gear (i.e. need to cycle with low resistance – I never know if that’s “high” or “low” gear).

In a bit of a funk about it. Don’t think my Juneathon efforts will be that interesting for the next 7 days, will mostly involve crunches.

Injuries, Juneathon, Running

The lingering gaze of a semi-wild goose

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I have a lot of time on my runs to think up subjects for these posts.

This morning saw me on my normal 5k canal route, having wrestled myself through a hayfeverish, semi-insomaniacal night’s sleep, at pitiful pace (34 mins for the circuit). I went GPS free, which was liberating in some small way, as at least Runkeeper wasn’t telling me that I was “behind my target pace”. I need to carry on with stretching even on “rest” days from running or this’ll keep happening – it was like a two day “runover” from Saturday’s 10 miler, knees click-clacking and quite stiff and sore well into the run (still low on actual pain, though).

Either that, or I need to seriously consider cutting back the mileage for the remainder of the month as the daily runs might ruin me otherwise… Thoughts? Halfway through Juneathon now…

For the curious, the geese in question live by the canal. They’re always lingering on the towpath and occasionally hiss viciously at me. Today they merely eyed me up, suspicious of my intent as I ran through a group of them lazing luxuriantly in the early morning sunshine.