Long Road to Recovery

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth- Mike Tyson.

This quote pretty much sums up the situation I am currently in; I am injured and haven’t been able to run properly for the last three weeks. Tyson’s quote- for me sadly- is an appropriate follow up to my last post in January. Up until the second week of February I had been following my marathon plan perfectly. In fact January for me had been one personal best after another, culminating in a great run at the infamous Parliament Hill cross country run on 30^th January where I started to realise that I may have a certain aptitude for running in mud.  This was probably more to do with my rugby days than actual running ability, but who knows. The following week I felt pretty tender; not surprising really after completing the Parliament Hill course and the next day doing a 20 mile run. However I thought it was just the deep ache of marathon training starting to kick-in and anyway I had the Watford Half Marathon to prepare for. So I told myself all I had to do was get to Thursday night and then I could rest for a few days before tackling Watford on 7^th February; but as the week progressed a niggle in my right calf wouldn’t  go away. I pushed on though and felt slightly apprehensive about Watford.

On 7^th February there was a very slight twinge in my calf, but nothing that was worrying me, as I lined up for my first half marathon of the year. I have to admit when I started the race I did not feel great, my calf was still not giving me a clear signal about whether I could push hard and I was daunted by the undulating course. Then after the first hill something just kicked in, I started to up my pace and then going down the first descent I decided that I would have a go at racing the course. My calf pain disappeared and I knew it was on. Long story short, I had a great run and achieved a personal best on a course that was not that easy. I have to say that I really enjoyed myself throughout the race; the course was really nice, the weather was brilliant and I thought overall everything was pretty well organised.

It was the next day, on Monday, that my calf was starting to feel quite strange. Not painful, as such, but just very sore. In my infinite wisdom I decided to carry on running, until by Thursday I knew there was something wrong. This was confirmed by two things: the sinking feeling one gets when they realise things are definitely not right and my osteopath telling me that I had strained my calf. Two weeks later; I have had to miss the Brighton Half Marathon, two cross country events and will most likely be deferring my London Marathon place. I will also not be running the Milton Keynes 20 mile race. Normally I would try to get back into my running, but this injury refuses to go away and I am just about wise enough to realise that I do not want to do permanent damage to myself. Also I’m not running an Autumn marathon this year, so London was going to be my only marathon and I wanted it to be the place where I got a personal best; not where I limped round because I couldn’t realise that this calf injury was a problem.

Without sounding too melodramatic, I went through what could be comically described as a runner’s grieving process. At first I couldn’t quite believe that I was injured, I kept trying to run only to discover that my calf would get worse from the pain I felt the next day. After that I started to beat myself up, by ruminating on whether I should have stopped running earlier or contacted my osteopath as soon as I became worried. Then I started to become angry; why did this injury have to happen to me when I was in good form? (No self-pity there at all of course). The one stage I would say I felt the worst about was being disconnected from training with my club members. It’s funny in a way because you all go through this kind of shared pain. You all joke and moan about the track sessions or the unending tempo runs, but really deep down you know that you love it. Paradoxically it is only when you cannot participate in these arduous sessions, that you truly realise how much you enjoyed them. I suppose I am now in what is known as the ‘upward turn’, whereby I am starting to realise that I am going to take steps to heal this injury and then prevent it from happening again.

I have tried to take the positives from the situation. I now know that when I do cross country races and marathon training together I have to stay at a certain mileage for around four weeks before increasing my mileage, rather than adding to the mileage by 10% each week. Simply put, my body cannot take it. Also that my glutes may not be as strong as I thought they were, or at least that’s what my physio has told me. To let my calves heal completely I am cross training; cycling and swimming predominantly. I have tried to scenario plan what the future will hold for my running:-

-          Negative scenario: Calf continues to play up and I cannot properly return to running until June. Slight possibility that my fitness will drop as well.

-          Neutral scenario:  Am able to start running properly towards to the end of April, just in time for the London Marathon and use the summer to prepare for a half marathon/ 10K/ Cross Country.

-          Positive Scenario: I heal in time for the Reading Half Marathon, aim would be to get round in under 1hr 30mins. Then try for a personal best in a May or October half marathon.

It’s fair to say that I am not happy about missing out on the London Marathon, it was one of my main goals this year, but I am starting to see this as a learning experience. That said I still haven’t officially deferred my entry, even though I know it is the right thing to do. I am still finding it very hard to let go of training for a marathon. People have been very supportive about how to come back from this injury and I am very grateful for that. Running is one of the things that keeps me sane and I miss it; my main aim is to get back into some form of running by the summer above all else. Though I won’t be making any plans just now.