The fall out from pre-marathon injury

So the fall-out has fallen out and the dust has settled. The sun has set and the clichés have clichéd on my London Marathon 2015 bid.

After 14+ weeks of solid training, during which I actually started to convince myself I was going to run really well, I suddenly suffered a knee injury. 

On the Saturday I ran a PB at Park Run Harcourt Hill and it hurt a small amount, on Sunday I attempted Eynsham Duathlon and it hurt a large amount. That afternoon it seized up and for two days I could barely walk on it.

I had some physio, I Rested, Iced, Compressed and Elevated but two days before the event I was still unable to run more than 500metres without pain.

The good news is that I have deferred my place to next year so need for the ballot.

At first it was hard to pinpoint exactly what caused the injury. Liz Soames, the excellent therapist I saw, has given me some exercises to do to provide extra stability and strength in the key areas as she pinpointed a weakness in those areas and I know that I ‘run crooked’ by dropping my right shoulder as I run (particularly when tired - see the picture to the right).

Those will help a lot and should help increase my speed – particularly over longer distances. But I think that the cause of the injury was far more elementary than that and identifies more stupidity on my part. 

I had two pairs of trainers on the go (same make and model); one new and one older. Without really taking notice I had used the older pair for all of my long runs and a good portion of the medium runs to work. The newer pair had been used for speed work.

When I sat down and worked it out, the older pair is now probably almost 18 months old. If I estimate an average of 20 miles per week in that time, those trainers had seen me through almost 1,500 miles.

When I examined the soles I could see that the instep side of the forefoot and heel were very badly worn which must have put considerable extra pressure on my knee.

What a basic mistake to make.

Still. No point crying about it. There are still events this year including Blenheim, Boscombe and Oxford triathlons and I have an entry for Abingdon Marathon in October.

And, while I didn’t make the final destination of my training, I have really enjoyed the journey. I am fitter than ever before, I have rekindled old friendships and made new connections. I have loved blogging and reading other’s blogs and two people have messaged me to say they had been inspired to start running and are really enjoying it.

Injury strikes

It was all going too well.

14 weeks of hard training. A few blips along the way – some mental, some fatigue-caused and the usual aches and pains that you’ll get from running 50 to 60 miles a week. 

But there had been no injury. Now, with less than two weeks to go, I have been struck down.

I have (I think) Runners’ Knee. 

I did Harcourt Hill Park Run on Saturday – in a personal best time – and felt a grumbling in my knee. Not pain, just grumbling. I forgot about it as you do and carried about my business playing football with my boys, making Lego spaceships and generally having fun.

Sunday was to be my last intensive workout. Eynsham Duathlon seemed perfect – it’s short, flat, informal and filled with friends from Oxford Triathlon Club. I was looking forward to showing that all this winter training had had an effect and challenging some of the better athletes in our club.

But, 50 metres into the 5km run that opens the event, my knee started grumbling again. 500 metres into the run is starting hurting and 1km later it was really hurting. I eased up and prepared to pull out – I wouldn’t normally but with the Big One just 14 days away why risk it?

But then it went from really hurting back to hurting and from hurting back to grumbling and I decided to carry on. I throttled back on the pace and decided to enjoy it.

My knee grumbled and creaked throughout the 20km bike section but then so did my mind as I cycled 8km into what was apparently 50-60mph winds.

As I set off on the second run, a shorter 2.2km, my knee once again stepped up to hurting, through really hurting and onto flaming painful. I finished the race (about five minutes slower than I should have done) and waited for the pain to stop. It usually stops straight after running if it’s just a niggle but it didn’t. It hurt sitting down, it hurt standing up and it hurt on the very slow cycle home.

Rest, Ice and Elevation were applied as my spirits soared watching Jonny Brownlee crush the opposition in the Gold Coast Triathlon. I posted a picture of my icepack on Facebook and it generated some sympathetic comments mixed with extreme banter at my Ugg-like slippers.

Apparently Runners’ Knee comes about from overuse, can strike at any time and has an indeterminate recover period. I woke up on Monday pretty sure I would be back to normal but a walking the kids to school showed otherwise and my climb up the stairs to my office this morning was borderline excruciating.

More ice and some gentle stretching is in order. I’ve even broken my personal rule and taken Ibruprofen (they were the root cause of an ulcer three years ago).

I’m trying to think positive and am staying off my bike for a few days but I have to say that this does not feel good.