Injury woes and imminent marathon debuts

I realise when you have to ask someone whether something is a bad idea, you have probably already answered your own question. This is certainly the case when it comes to my decision to go ahead and run the Flitch Way Spring Marathon next weekend. Rather than asking my physio or a running coach whether they think I should go ahead with my plan to run, I have decided to go ahead regardless rather than ask them for their opinion and ignore their (sensible) advice! It's only my left leg from about the knee down that seems to be problematic, what's the worst that can happen? The run hurts and my leg drops off. I at least have another leg and with any luck some race bling and a finishers t-shirt to go with it come Sunday evening!

My journey to this marathon hasn't been without its problems. If you Googled the top 10 most common running injuries I can guarantee that I could tick off a fair few of them. I signed up back at the turn of the year wanting to challenge myself like I had never done before. At the time I had conquered two half marathons, the first was completed with very little training (as I hadn't a clue) and hurt like hell, the second I made a better effort with the training and accomplished my goal of a sub 2 hour finish plus raising some cash for the RNLI. I am pretty sure both times my sentiments were that it was tough and there was no way I could ever run a marathon. I unfortunately have a very short memory which is probably how I have entered myself into several races this year over the 13.1 mile distance.

Oxford HM 2013 - A determined sprint finish to finish under 2 hours

At the time of entering what will be my first marathon I had a good 5 months to train which seemed more than generous given my existing level of running fitness. I think my first training mistake was knowing that I could already run 13.1 miles and trying to get myself straight to that distance in training and then to try and build on the half marathon distance. I should have realised when I got stuck at around 11-12 miles before having to stop my run due to knee pain (bought on by Illotibial Band Syndrome) that it was my body telling me that I was trying to push too hard too soon. If only I had recognised the signs all those months ago and scaled back my training, I may be in better shape now to take on the 26.2 miles. Hindsight is all very well and good but right now it's not going to help dwelling on what I should have done, after the marathon I will reflect, learn and adapt before I take on the next challenge.

I also realise that biomechanically I am perhaps not that well set up for running. 18 years of football has held me in good stead with my ambient fitness levels but is an entirely different type of running placing different physical strains on the body. I think I have suffered more injuries in the short 10 months I have been fully focused on running than I had experienced in the 18 years of football! When I knew that I would be doing more road running I decided to get a second pair of trainers as the pair I was wearing had already seen me through my half marathon and training back in 2013.

I thought a gait analysis would be a good place to start as if I was to train for a marathon I needed my trainer choice to be reliable. I hopped onto the treadmill with a pair of the low support neutral trainers, no sooner than I had jogged my first few steps the store assistant said "STOP! Argh, that is horrible". He ushered me round to the laptop to playback the video. To me I looked like I was running, I didn't see what was so terrible. Then he slowed down the footage and could see it straight away, my ankles were rolling inwards as my foot was planting on the ground. He got a card with a straight edge and held it 90° to my ankle to demonstrate how much my ankle was rolling inwards. It was confirmed I was an over pronator. Knowing that I was going to need shoes with some stability control and support we tried a number of trainers geared towards over pronation until we found a pair that corrected the motion to an acceptable level. In total I must have tried over half a dozen pairs of trainers. The most suitable were a pair of Asics GT-2000 v3, in bright orange and pink with fluorescent yellow lining no less. I have worn Asics before but the pairs I had were far more understated. I asked whether there were any other colours I could choose from only to get the reply "no, you get what you're given when you have feet like yours!". Accepting that I had to put fashion and my personal preference aside I decided to buy the trainers. Despite hating the colour initially, I am now converted and love the fact that they are so in your face! I don't think I can go back to normal trainers now, the more lairy and garish the better!

Understanding that my old trainers had not been giving me the support I had needed made me realise that it was probably the extra load on my calf muscles from the over pronation that had been causing a lot of the calf pain and tightness that I had been experiencing as I had been getting up to the longer runs. This combined with the over training is most likely how I have ended up with shin splints which is the main injury preventing me from running in the lead up to the marathon. Thinking back on it I have suffering from tightness in the calf muscles for several months and had not really registered the significance.

The earlier Bank Holiday Monday run was painful enough for me to realise that I needed to listen to what my body was telling me. I knew from that point that there would be no more running until I had seen the physio so the following morning I was on the phone to make an appointment. Unfortunately my physio seems to be an in demand man so I had to wait until the following Monday to get an appointment. His advice was as I had thought though, no more running until I'd had an assessment. I knew that I had to heed to his advice, even walking the short distance from my car to my office with a heavy laptop bag sent agonising shooting pains radiating down my shins.

I tried my best to keep my fitness levels up that week. I got back into the gym to do some light cardio and some weights. Getting reacquainted with the gym was painful, I managed to give myself 3 day DOMS from doing a seemingly easy TRX routine. My fear was that in two weeks I could reverse the months of running fitness that I built up. I cleared it with the physio that it was OK to attend my weekly RPM (indoor cycling) class to add some high intensity training to the mix. It was a difficult week leading up to my physio appointment. Part of me didn't want to contemplate not being able to run the marathon but whilst my mind was telling me that it would be fine my body was telling the contrary. I decided to remain optimistic and start preparing mentally for the challenge that lay ahead.

The physio session on the Monday confirmed my suspicions, it was indeed shin splints. Prodding along the inside of my shin bone identified the tighter parts of my calf muscle which were almost rock like in places with knots. The treatment began with some deep tissue massage which is safe to say one of the more painful experiences I have had, it was easily up there on the pain scale with IT Band massage! The treatment was finished with some dry needling to encourage my knotty calves to relax. The needles were inserted into the trigger points, two on my left leg and one on the right.

Trigger point dry needling  

With time firmly against me the physio wanted to see me again on Wednesday and Friday for further treatment to ensure that my legs would be in the best possible state to run. The day between treatments was nowhere near enough time to allow the bruising to settle which made the final two sessions eye wateringly painful! On the final session I was taped up to provide some relief to the shins. Pleased with the progress I had made in the space of a week I was given the all clear to attempt to run. The physio recommended that I tape all of my niggling injuries with kinesiology tape to give me some extra support. All I can do now is stretch out my calves as much as possible and hope for the best.

So it looks like I am running a marathon on Sunday! I am both excited and terrified in equal parts. I know it is not going to be 26.2 miles of smiles and laughter, there will no doubt be some very difficult and painful times. I have therefore found a mantra to repeat to myself when the doubt sets in, "finish lines, not finish times" and I will be elated should I happen to see that finish line against all odds.