It's been an emotional couple of weeks. An injury to my left quad totally preventing me from running, every step jarring through the quad and making anything other than a walk impossible.
There was no incident when i was injured, nothing popped, snapped or pinged. Just one day it didn't hurt then it did. This was four-weeks out from the Cheltenham Ultra and the last two weeks of intensive training before taper-time. The plan was to cover around 60-odd miles in both weeks. As it goes i covered 13.9 and 11.1. A mere 95 miles short of target!
I didn't just stop during this period though i used my bike, my thinking being that that will at least keep my fitness reasonable. That was a real shock to the system. After day 1 of cycling (i cycled 30 miles in two rides) my sit bones were in agony and my lower back felt like it had been set in concrete. Agony! I guess that's what happens when you've not ridden in months. My body soon adapted to cycling and in the last fortnight i have ridden 125 miles. Not bad.
I also decided to seek assistance with the injury early in the process. Normally i wait until things have progressed too far before seeking help. This time i contacted a Sports Masseuse - she came around last Monday and after some discussion around what i had done set about working on my legs. It turns out that my legs are not in good repair. My quads, hamstrings and ITB are short and inflexible. Some painful massage and instructions on how to stretch and roll and an insistence that i need to and that was it. I have stretched and rolled more in the last week than i have in the entire year to date.
After cycling to work i spend 15 minutes in the gym stretching and rolling. Ditto when i get home. As the week progressed and i noticed that i was no longer limping when walking so tried some runs off the bike. Thinking that i would already be warmed up so it was less likely to be an issue. This proved right and i was able to move up to a couple of miles.
Saturday i ran cold, that is without cycling first. I made sure to limber up and start slowly. I ran without issue. This morning, Sunday, i ran again taking the same approach. I managed 5 miles at sub 8 minute pace. I feel a little stiff at the start but that quickly dissipates. If anything the issue seems to have moved from my quad to my left groin.
I am seeing the masseuse tomorrow to get things worked over again - this will be the last session before the Cheltenham Challenge. Last week i was probably less than 50% likely to get to the start line. Today i feel like i am 75% likely to make it. What will determine that is how this next week goes. It is taper so mileage should be lower, if i can get to being able to run 10 miles at the weekend without any issue then my confidence will be restored.
I should be fit enough i will just be missing a couple of long runs in my legs. It may even be an advantage as i will be complete rested and fresh.
Time will tell i guess...
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