the final stretch?

Well, I've been back to the physio and he's stretched my foot. Something to do with mobility in my foot I think, so he was manipulating the metatarsals, culminating with a 'hold onto the bed' followed by a fairly substantial yank.
No sniggering at the back.
My foot clicked and the slight lump under my 3rd metatarsal had gone.

This may be the final link in the chain of adjustments to get me back up and running. Fingers crossed.
10 days before the next run to ease my achilles (which is a little bit swollen) and then a final (?) trip to the physio.

My third toe now has a kink in it which I'm sure wasn't there before...

double dang

Went for a run in my old shoes - and the achilles problem started even earlier.

Something else for my lovely physio to sort out for me.

The knee pain he sorted out last time has been totally brilliant - I now don't have a knee problem

Just an achilles problem...

Resting and stretching until Monday's appointment methinks...

Dang

On Sunday I started out on a 20+ minuter - but after 15 mins I had to stop and walk.
Achilles and calves.
I was convinced my achilles were about to explode so walking felt like the right thing to do
Happily today (2 days later) they're not bad at all.

I will probably go for a run this evening - but in my old shoes. I'll be pleased if I can do 30 mins with just the feeling that I'm a bit out of breath rather than in agony of biomechanical proportions.
If I do feel OK I guess I'll continue to run in the old trainers (but toe-striking as such as possible) and go for diddly runs in the merrells to bring up my endurance. It feels like a step backwards to go back into the padded shoes frankly and I don't like it.

Is this right?

22 min run last night
4.22km
which means 8.4 mins/mile which is faster than I used to run before my foot broke and before I got into this minimal running thing.

Can this possibly be correct?

I guess I will have to do more runs to find out

I do feel good for having done it and - apart from feeling a bit tired in the muscle dept - it felt good to be running. Although 20 mins or so is about as much as I want to be doing for now.
Building up to 5 miles is my next challenge. Beyond that, who knows...

I am back with the physio on Thursday which might help sort out my runner's knee...

20 minutes

not too unhappy with a 20 minute run - did 2.32 miles which I'm quite happy about.

But today I have aching calves/calfs (carves?)
Hopefully it'll wear off and I can do another 20+ minutes tomorrow

Tailing off...

I have been on a run or 2 since that last one, but nothing recently. Perhaps my love of running was all in my head and I only missed it when I couldn't do it and now I can, it's lost its charm...

Whatevs, I think I ought to keep it up and get back into the habit.

Actually my knees have been giving me that 'runner's knee' twinge for the past few days so perhaps it's a good thing I'm not running. And that is a good excuse.

righteous glow

Have just pounded the mean streets of St Andrews for 11mins 36"
The weird thing is - it's my right foot which feels worse... not sure if that's to do with having weak and inflexible arches or what - but there is a definite difference and it's my right foot which is worse.

Hey ho - will try and go for a 15-min run tomorrow morning and from then aim for 3 runs a week building up to 30 mins. This week will be 15 mins, 20 the week after etc. I think that 30 mins will be good to aim for - after that I imagine that getting up to an hour will be will power rather than nurturing my feet and calfs. Calves.

Shhhhhhh...

... don't tell anyone but I went for a run this morning.

I know, I know: get me.

Well I consider it a 'run' but it consisted of less than a mile.
But it was OK.

Foot news: it's weird having to concentrate quite so hard on running properly but I think I got away with it. My foot does ache a little but in a different place - up near the ankle area - perhaps it's just the bone rejigging itself within my foot and it may take a while to settle. I will have to ask on Monday when I see the physio again

So, I shall await tomorrow with interest to see how hurty my calfs and achilles are but so far, so good.

Hurrah!

8 weeks

2 months since it was broken.

Most of the pain has gone but it's still not right: it feels like my bone is too stiff. I know they're supposed to be stiff. It just feels too long or something and it's in the wrong place.
Whatever, it's a bit hurty when I walk.

I go back to the physio next Monday and hopefully he'll put me back on track. You see what I did there. I'll get my coat.

Thing is, running's gone from my mind. I no longer think about it other than as a panacea to all the fat issues I have. There are other reasons for having fat issues but they're too complex to go into here. Suffice it to say, I'm relying on running to drop me a couple of dress sizes. 1 would be enough. And if I go hell for leather, there is a danger that I will end up doing myself another injury.
So I don't do anything, just to be on the safe side...

Broken

I went back to the GP last Friday as my foot was still giving me grief: right back at the start of all this the A&E doctor had told me to go back to my GP if it wasn't better in 3 weeks. That was nearly 5 weeks before.
So I had a second x-ray which showed it was indeed a stress fracture.

Which has reassured me in several ways:
1. it explains why it was so painful for so long (but not how something too tiny to show up on the first x-ray could cause so much pain for so long...)
2. it means there is a more predictable prognosis (I think) as in it'll take 6 weeks to feel much better (that's be Monday, can't wait) and probably 6-8 before running again
3. it is healing very well

It's still a bit swollen and isn't terribly comfortable when I walk (unless I wear the trainery shoes with insoles - how elegant...) but now I can visualise what's going on in there it makes sense and it is healing OK so it's not the end of the world.

Now I have to summon up the patience to return to running gradually, and the determination not to just give up and sit on the sofa for the rest of my life...

Perhaps, as motivation, I should promise myself some (more) lovely running kit!!!

:D

never has a blog been more aptly titled...

I am going to suffer when I get back running: I will want to just get out there straight back into the 5-miler runs.
But it won't be like that.
For a start I will be very unfit as I've done nothing to keep up my fitness. I had considered rowing machines, cross-trainers that sort of thing, but just haven't got any further than thinking about it.
And I know I will be very hesitant and won't want to risk this all happening again - perhaps that's wise. Perhaps I need to be cautious and take it very easy in getting back into it.
Perhaps I need to join a club for *shudders* beginners...
Perhsp perhaps perhaps.

Truth is I'm heading into the unknown: I have never been injured like this before. Twisted ankles seem logical and it's easy to know in your mind when it's ok to run again.
This is something else: because it wasn't an injury like going over on your ankle or falling and hurting your knee, there is the worry that I'm just going to end up in exactly the same place as I have been for the past month.
And it's one place I never want to come back to.

Getting better

I truly feel my foot is getting better.
But it's not there yet.
And I'm dreading how it's going to be when I start running again - will I be able to build up slowly (like about 5 mins at a time)? Will I be so fearful of it happening again I kind of make it happen again? Or perhaps it will be fine and I will just get on and become one of these heroically aged runners you see doing middling well in the road races...

recovery

If it is a stress fracture, it'll be 4 - 6 weeks before I can even think about running.

The latest thought was it might be something to do with ligaments or tendons. It's definitely not the joint, it's defintitely my middle toe. I guess it's nice to narrow it down

But I'm still hacked off about it. Yesterday I walked less than 1/4 mile and I was in pain every step of the way, and quite knackered with having to compensate for limping so much. It's made me feel pathetic and useless and I don't like that one bit.

But there is a definite improvement. One good thing to come of the terrible weather is that I can wear my winter boots which are supportive and probably help my foot quite a lot.

So I'm happy that it's improving, quite frustrated that it's taking (in my mind) so long and very concerned about when I do start running again, what's going to stop it happening again? I think I'm clued up as to how to avoid it, but it went so suddenly last time I don't believe I will never be 100% confident...

First physio session

I think it's getting better. It's a lot less hurty apart from first thing in the morning when I believe it's utterly shot and I will never walk again. But then I get over it and generally it only hurts if I walk too far on it or plain old forget and try to bound upstairs or something foolish.
The anticipation of pain is stopping me from using it normally, which makes everythng else tight and achy. Not helping.
I've had my physio session and have been straightened out quite a bit, so hopefully my feet will hit the ground flat in future rather than all curled up to one side (squashing the bones, causing the problem: see, it all adds up)  and I have a strapping on my foot to help my big toe joint hit the floor alongside the other toes, not 1/2 an hour later as it has been.
So, all in all, I'm feeling quite positive: when I will be running again I really don't know. I guess once I can walk without pain, I can build up to running on the spot etc. Oh, can't wait...

Alternative diagnosis

It could be 'metatarsalgia' Pain in the metatarsals. Descriptive enough to be plausible.
It explains why my foot doesn't ache a lot of the time, but not why it should come on so suddenly.
Then I think to myself that there have been times, mornings especially, when my foot's been really painful. So perhaps it's the 'algia...
Whatevers - it's getting a bit better now although walking is a pain, and I'd hoped to walk a bit this weekend. Might just have to put feet up and laze around instead.
I've booked in with the Physiotherapist at Moti cos he promised me he could mend me and get me back 'barefoot' running. So he is my new best friend.

Fractious and stressed

It's a stress fracture. Not the best news in the world frankly, but I will just have to live with it.
It hurts, but not excessively (unless I try running of course)
I have anti-inflammatories and painkillers which should do the trick of calming it down and all I have to do is wait for the healing process.
I am amazed at the way our bodies heal themselves - Ok there is a little bit of scar tissue here and there but if we never healed we'd all be dead by the age of about 3.
I just wish it was a little bit quicker. Like instant. Instant's good for me.

What have I done...

I will find out when I get to casualty I suppose.

What happened was, I went for a run on the downs yesterday, in the merrell shoes, and was going very well. It's a lot harder running off-road in those things but I honestly thought it would be good for building core strength, foot strength, everything really.
And for a while I guess it was working fine.

But, after about 1/2 an hour I felt a sharp pain in my left foot. A bit like cramp, so stretching the thing out should have done the trick, right?
But it didn't. And it's no better 24 hours later.

I have a feeling it's a stress fracture: it all adds up. (well google can make you believe anything can't it)

So this morning I"m off to A and E to see what's what. It does hurt although I can bend my toes. Stairs are a challenge.

And the ramifications? Well, if it is a stress fracture, then it's 6-8 weeks off the running. Not a problem in the depths of winter, but now???  I will have to replace it with something else - the upstairs at the gym has aerobic machines - rowers, stair climbers and the like, so I guess I will have to take up statics again. Work? Fuck knows. 'Scuse me, but it couldn't really come at a worse time.

Hacked off.

Still here...

...just not out running

It's only a matter of time.

My current excuse is the heat - spring has finnaly sprung and it's jolly warm out there

Felt like I was missing out on the Bristol 10k last Sunday but I don't think I would have been able to do it.

I really need to get back into this running thing to counteract the middle-age spread threatening to overwhelm me...

36 hours...

...is how long it takes for muscles to really kick in with their aching after a session.

I went for a run on Tuesday evening (in the Merrells, so I was asking for trouble...) and this morning my calves were stiff and aching.

But my achilles were - are - fine.

Does this mean I've made the swap? I can't run heel-striking any more, it feels too wrong (although going downhill is still an issue - I feel like I'm running like a fairy, taking dainty tippy-toe steps...)
So perhaps it's time to start upping the distance and duration until I'm regularly doing 5 miles. And then even thinking about a 1/2 marathon.

Argh!

It's like this...

It being Sunday I did drag my carcass round the downs - I actually cycled up there which is quite environmentally friendly of me, (the alternative being driving rather than running...)

It took 34' 37" and it was the vanilla version, no extra loops or anything...

So I'm glad I've been and I feel better for having done it - but it's not easy anymore. Not that it ever truly was, but I'm struggling to keep going for 1/2 an hour these days. Of course I know what the answer is to that, and I know I will have to force myself out more - especially as I'm being lured by the thought of another 1/2 marathon later this year and that will take over 2 hours...  *shudders*

Distance - about the same as last week - 6km 3.77 miles.
which is I think 9 mins 10" per miles. That. Cannot. Be. Right.
34'37  is 2077 seconds
2077/3.77 is 551 secs/mile
or 9 mins and 10 secs give or take.
I surprise myself at times...

(If that's true - I may be terribly terribly wrong there but if I'm right then I am chuffed into little minty pieces and it explains why I was so knackered... )
(Something tells me I've got a sum wrong and it's miles out...)

I know people who are doing the 10k next weekend - and that makes me sad and angry at myself for having let myself slip so deeply into a pit of gluttony and sloth. And there are several far more appealing deadly sins than gluttony and sloth.