How things are going

I’ve sat down here, not really knowing what I want to write! I’m part way through my 10k training plan, enjoying running under the shelter of the trees in the early morning (although not as early as one of my friends, who has been getting up around dawn to get her long runs in before the heat of the sun breaks through!) Murphy, my canine running partner has been coming too although, at almost 12 years old, I have warned him that there may soon come a day when he just can’t come with me. That’s incredibly sad. He’s been my running partner for a long time and has even run a 6 miler with me in his youth!

However that day will come in a few weeks as I start to increase my distances beyond what I can eek out of the woods. In there, amongst the trails, I can get 3 miles. Not all under the shade of the trees, but still. Tomorrow’s run is 3 miles. It’s my Long Run Day and so will be a slow run, so I’m hoping that Murphy and I can get that one done in the cooler weather that is predicted for tomorrow. After than I think I’ll be able to do a couple of shorter runs and then I’ll have to move onto the road.

Road running here is a bit precarious as there are very few paths. I’ve been running for a few years now though and have built up a reserve of quiet routes which test me, but not the drivers trying to get round me! On most runs I hardly see a vehicle. Plenty of cows and sheep, but very little of anything else.

I’ve missed these well-kenned routes and it’ll be nice to get to see them again. Leaving Murphy behind won’t be as nice, but I’m sure he’ll be happy with a post-run walk. And perhaps a squeaky toy and a bone…

I’ve got it in my head that if I am race ready by September I will enter the Jedburgh 10k in October. I haven’t worked out how far through the programme I will be by then as I’m really not wanting to jinx things! At the moment I’m playing with run/walk ratios and seeing what I can do. On my last trail run I went out with 2 min/30 sec, which I adjusted mid run to 45 sec/20 sec and then finished with 3 min/30 sec. It’s reassuring to know that I can adjust these intervals as I feel I am running, without also feeling that I am not performing as I should. The trails are a different thing to road running though and I’m expecting to increase my running ratios to several minutes running to each short walk break. I am not expecting, post surgery and with significant physio issues, to be able to just run. I am enjoying covering the distance in a fairly respectable time.

My pace off road is currently around a 12 min/mile. Previously I could take a minute off that on the road; it’ll be interesting to see if that’s still true. If, however, I am now a 12 minute miler over distance then that’s what I’ll be. At some point or another I’ll run just a mile and see how fast I can do that. I think my fastest mile was just under 9 minutes. I’m not expecting to get anywhere near that.

My physio is happy with me. I am doing my exercises pretty much every day. My Plantar Fascitis has almost disappeared, thanks to those exercises but also to the orthotics I am now prescribed via the hospital. I have now worked up to wearing them all day and am allowed to run in them now too. These help to support my arches and stop my foot from rolling in, as it did. I’ve also started doing what is called Daily Yoga, but not daily. Usually it’s When I Remeber Yoga, but that’s good enough for me! I have problems getting from the floor to standing, so I have a stool on hand to help me. I’m hoping that increasing flexibility and strength will eventually mean that I use this prop less and less.

So, that’s where I am! Things are generally going ‘fine’.

Today I walked on a path I haven’t for over a year

Today’s blog is in the form of  two short videos. They say everything I want to write. Please just watch.

The Morning After

It’s the morning after my steroid injection. My husband keeps asking how I am and if it hurts and I keep on saying “I don’t know.” I’ve felt so lousy for so long that it became a norm and so now I’m getting used to life after bursitis.

The procedure itself was a doddle. I wish I’d pushed for it months ago, instead of going along with treatments that were never going to work because the bursa was too inflamed to respond. Instead I struggled along, icing my hip at every opportunity and, even, in the end, having to walk with the aid of my grandmother’s walking stick. I was old before my time.

It was done by a physiotherapist. She explained everything twice, once before the procedure and again afterwards (just in case the words had slid off my over-anxious brain). I don’t need to avoid gory details, because it wasn’t at all gory. I lay on my good side with my back facing the physio. The area was still very swollen, so she knew where to go! She felt for the worse spot, guided by my ‘ouches’, marked it with some sort of punch (just a nip on the skin), injected a local anaesthetic and left the needle in place whilst attaching the steroid tube. I was told I’d feel a little pressure, which I hardly did, and that was it. The whole thing took less than 30 seconds and I felt just the local needle and that was just a scratch. Amazing.

Having had it, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for it again. It was nothing, absolutely nothing, especially in comparison to what I’ve endured for five months.

I waited at the hospital for half an hour, advised to do so in case of an adverse reaction to the injection and then was chauffered home by my very worried looking husband who hates needles. I’ve been told to stay off my feet as much as possible for 48 hours to allow the steroid to settle in the area and not get dispersed. The local anaesthetic wore off around six hours after the fact, so I took a couple of ibuprofen and half a bottle of wine, all for medicinal purposes and slept like a baby last night!

This morning I have no pain and no apparent side effects, but I’m very aware that without either I might be tempted to do too much. I have already been warned to sit down and watch “Star Trek and Gotham and whatever other rubbish you have saved.” So I will.

After that I have to take it easy for ten days; no housework, no ironing, no long walks, no standing for too long, definitely no exercise! I have a physio appointment for two weeks time. I’ll be reassessed and will be able, if everything is alright, to start my strengthening exercises again. It may be a wee while yet before I can try a treadmill run.

But I will!