Post Race Reflections

Result: DNF

Dropped out somewhere between 11.5 and 12. At that point I had been running quite well and was feeling extremely good. Until then my splits had been (approximately, mile markers were quite a bit off - only 5k markers seemed completely accurate):

5:40, 6:00, 6:02, 6:01, 5:59, 6:06, 6:02, 5:47, 6:03, 5:55, 6:01 + 4:05 before stopping. The leg starting out felt much better than I expected, as it did to run these splits. I had planned on going around 6:10-6:15s due to the training I missed but got locked into a very comfortable rhythm and just went with it. The problems began on the faster 8th mile. It was nearly all downhill, and straight away I knew the hip/quad wasn't happy with it. From 8-11 it was considerably tighter but felt that as long as it didnt get any worse I would be fine. Just beyond 11 miles we crossed the canal via probably the smallest bridge in the world. But the small decline off the bridge was enough to trigger the leg, and the hip just seized up on me completely. After stopping I had to drop my chip with the St. Johns ambulance crew who stuck me in the ambulance. Getting tired of waiting around, I decided I'd walk/jog home. As soon as I stood up the leg refused to take my weight. I wasn't going anywhere. Since then it's loosened up a little, but its pretty damn painful doing anything besides sitting.

To be honest, I'm obviously disappointed but not gutted. I knew there was a good chance that this would be the outcome, and I'm glad that I sacked up and decided to give it a go instead of waking up tomorrow wondering what if?

I'm also glad that in treating this injury I've gotten to the root cause of this and the majority of my recent injuries. Apparently I "significantly lack gluteal mass", meaning I gotta get some junk in my trunk. I know what needs to be done, and hopefully after it I'll come out of it a better runner. Gonna take a day or two off before beginning the rehab and some pool work. Given the lack of training the last few weeks I don't really feel the need to rest up, but I do need to get this injury fixed before getting back to workouts etc. The plan is to take on some sort of XC season, although the novice champs on Dec 5th are likely to come around a little too early. However there is plenty of 2010 action to look forward to.

Finally, a big thanks to those who donated to the charity I was running for, and for the wishes of support leading up to the race. Those that know me best know what a fat little wanker I was around 7-8 months ago, and of all the positives that I can take out of this campaign (and there are a few) the biggest is that I'm fit again and excited about running. For that I am very grateful.

Last pre-race run

4 miles, 27:02

Decided I wanted a preview of the pain I'm subjecting myself to on Monday and was relatively pleased with how this went. Did one mile at ~MP that turned out to be around 6:15 which will do grand given the lack of training the last 3 weeks. Felt fine with it, leg was tight obviously, the question is whether it can stand up to another 25 of them. Will hit the pool tomorrow for a light session and that will do it.

Got more physio this evening and more lined up tomorrow.

The last few sessions have really been helping loosen things out, but also getting down to the crux of my non-stress fracture injuries. Pretty much all of these have been problems with the left quad/groin. What I didnt know is that they are all stemming from a total lack of work by the left gluteal and piriformis muscles. So basically my left ass cheek doesn't do what its supposed to. What this causes, as I think the 2 pictures below demonstrate, is a compensatory roll of the femoral head in the hip after the leg makes contact with the ground, and the knee tracks inwards upon transition to toe off. This puts a lot of stress on the quad/groin as the pic in red shows, causing the problems I now have.

The advice from the physio (which you guys will love) is to run 'like John Wayne, pretend you've got a horse between your legs'; i.e. focus on keeping the knee outward. Tried this on the run today, and while it isn't too challenging in a physical sense, mentally like any stride adjustment it took a ton of concentration, and maybe difficult to maintain throughout the race on Monday.

Fuck it, lets go

I haven't posted in quite a while, pretty much because there' s been nothing to post except depressing news regarding the leg. Despite a ton of rest and physical therapy, it is not responding. It's quite painful walking around still, and I feel there is little chance of me completing the marathon. This had led my mind into a dark place, dwelling on the thoughts of not competing in the race I've been training for 6 months; and also its knock on effect on some of the XC races I had been hoping to do this winter. Added to that is a large amount of guilt having collected charitable donations with the likelihood of not running.

Last night I received an email from the charity I am raising for asking if anyone with a race number to donate it if they weren't planning on running to a team member who missed the application deadline. I slept on it, and decided to give up my number. Sent the email. Got a response. 2 people had beaten me to the punch. Is this a sign?? Got some more physio, felt some improvement, but given where the head was at I decided to see about deferring entry to next year. No dice. No refunds, no deferrals. Basically we've got your 100 yoyos, now fuck off.

This pissed me off to be honest. It's not my plan to be injured. I want to run. But €100 is a lot to me, and it annoyed me to think I'd pissed it up against a wall on a race I'm not running. I'd have been better pissing it up a wall getting, well, pissed. Now I'm thinking I have the number, lets use it.

The downsides.

Even if I am able to complete it, I'm looking at enduring (hopefully) almost 3 hours of quite severe pain.

I am likely to aggravate the injury further, risking participating in XC races.

Dropping out of a race is not something I want to do.

The upsides.

At least I can say I tried.

I may (delusional point coming up) 'get into my stride' and feel half decent/ride a 3 hour adrenaline kick and not feel the pain

Say a mental 'fuck you' to those bastards who wont let me defer.

Chances are I'm going to sway back and forth at least 4689 times between now and Monday. But right now the attitude is fuck it. In the words of Billy Crudup (a.k.a Pre) ' you don't know what it will do to me if I run, you know what it will do if I dont' or something like that, I havent seen the movie in about 8 years.

Back on the horse

~3.5 miles, 24:42

After a week of pool running I finally got back to the real thing today. Most importantly the weight-bearing pain in the hip that was afflicting me last week was gone, although there was some definite tightness/tenderness in the groin and quad area. After 5 mins or so till about 20 mins I felt I was moving pretty freely, although started to tighten up quite a bit after this, so called it a little short of the 4 mile target.

Did a good stretching session after and thankfully the leg is feeling pretty decent walking around post run. Am hoping to add about 20mins onto this for tomorrow, but early indications are that things are on the up.

Catch up post

Thurs: 1hr steady aqua jogging. Nothing really of note, didnt vary the pace much as the legs were a little tired and calves were threatening to cramp.

Fri: 45 mins aqua jogging with 4 x 6 lengths hard, 1 length easy, which boiled down to ~4 mins hard, 1:15 rec. Did the normal gym routine after.

Spent the evening getting various treatments. Spent 45mins at the physio which I didnt find as productive as the ones earlier in the week. Call me sexist if you want but I put it down to the fact that I had a female physio who wasn't strong enough physically to get deep enough into the muscle tissue. After travelling back to Dundalk then I went and saw my bone guy who cracked my hips for me and left me feeling quite a bit looser.

Light at the end of the tunnel

1hr aqua jogging

Broke up this bout in the pool with 8x4 lengths with 1 length recovery keeping the effort the same as for the 3 length bouts yesterday. Went well besides some pretty painful calf cramping on bouts 2,4,5, 7 and 8. And all during the cooldown. The lungs got the desired workout though, so all good.

This morning was the first morning in a week that the hip didn't hurt on getting out of bed or walking around. That said, it still does feel extremely tight, but the pain is thankfully gone. Had another good session with the physio this evening so am expecting some pain tomorrow morning, but after the pool should be much improved. Anticipating running ~ Friday, when I also plan on revisiting my midget horse bone guy, as I was told yet again that my hips are way out of alignment.

Stay Positive Fool!

Aquajog, 55 mins

Sticking with Coste's arbitrary distance theme, I broke this one up with 10 x 3 lengths medium/hard, 1 length recovery. The Trinity pool is a 25m pool, but only about half of that is actually deep enough for this guy to aqua jog in, so most normal heighted people would be even worse off. Timed a few of the intervals around 2-2:10, with 1-1:10 on the recovery. Not overly taxing, but gave the lungs a workout.

Waking up this morning the hip flexor was pretty darn sore which I'm guessing is in response to the physio treatment last night. However after the pool there was a considerable improvement which is a big positive, and has me hoping to be back out there in a few days. Even if not, then the pool is serving me nicely in keeping the lungs open and ready to roll in 13 days!