Seasonal Greetings!
Up until today I hadn’t felt much like posting here, mostly because there wasn’t much to say. I was injured and I wasn’t running and I was grumpy because of it.
Today I travelled along the road to recovery. Not far, but far enough to lift my spirits and make me feel a bit more human. A bit more like a runner again.
On my last trip to the chiropractor on Monday of Christmas week I saw for the first time genuine concern on the face of my chiropractor as everything he suggested previously had failed to work. I was in as much pain as ever and the pain killers were making me ill. I’d had to stop taking them and resort to prescription grade ibuprofen gel. It wasn’t handy and applying gel to your hip and leg isn’t easy when you’re working! Not to be beaten, Super Chiropractor reassessed my pain and discovered that it wasn’t so much my underdeveloped glutes that were causing the bursitis, but the tightness of my iliotibial band and also the sartorius muscle which crosses from the hip to the inside of the knee. It was that combination that was making the bursa inflammed. (The bursa is a fluid filled sac between bone and tendon, protecting both, which when inflammed causes injuries such as Housemaid’s Knee, Tennis Elbow and Runner’s Hip!)
I left with heavily bruised hip, outer leg and inner knee, but also with tools to fix this myself.
Through self-massage and pressure point therapy I have managed to loosen both muscles to the stage at which I am now, just about ready to run again. My legs are black and blue, but it’s been worth it. Even the look on my son’s face as he came in to find me using a suspicious looking battery powered hand held massager on my IT band was worth it.
On the day after Boxing Day I walked for 30 minutes through the woods I love to run through. I struggled a bit towards the end, as it was uphill, but I recovered quickly and it was by far the furthest I’ve walked without painkillers or being in agony for a month.
Today I felt confident enough to attempt a treadmill run. I had it in mind to run for 10 minutes and assess the damage, deciding then whether to run on for another 20 minutes. I ran a slow 9 kph for most of the run, finishing, as ever, a bit faster! I walked for 3 minutes to warm up (the cabin was frozen up after the coldest night so far this year!) and then ran for 4 minutes and walked for 1, repeating this until I reached 20 minutes of running. Walking for the minute meant that I could constantly reassess how I was feeling. The only thing I noted was that my posture was a bit stooped and when I stood tall I felt better.
My distance and speed are naff, of course! I ran 3.3 km in 26 minutes (3 minutes warm up walk and 3 minutes cool down walk), so just a couple of miles.
But, after the last six weeks, they were the sweetest two miles ever!
I’ve foam rollered my IT band and I’m off for a hot bath now, followed by some massage and an ice pack or two. My fingers, toes and eyes are crossed that this is me getting back to fitness.
A Running Battle 