Malvern Half Marathon & Getting Ripped Off

So today is the day of the Malvern Half Marathon I should just be finishing in around 30 minutes. Instead I am sat at home typing this much to my dismay!

So this is my second race that I have had to pull out of but still need to focus on the bigger picture which is the 40 mile Ultra Marathon in 19 days arghhhh! How excited am I??

So I guess you may be wondering what the Physio said right? Well what he said was a load of old poppy cock, nice enough man and all that but he made me do loads of movements, stretches put pressure on bits and bobs and came to the conclusion it may be but he wasn't sure a problem with my back but then proceeded to put KT tape on my hamstring. Is this not the same principle of sticking a plaster on your foot to cure a headache? He then told me to go for a run with the tape on and if doesn't help go back home and do some stretches then try running again. So off I went, then at reception was told to make another appointment, Ok I thought thinking next week will be fine only to be given an appointment card with the following day on it!? Apparently me paying him £40 for him to say oh i think it's your back but not sure, run tonight and come back tomorrow so I can take another £40 off you is the way it works right? WRONG!

I went home very upset, went for a run and pushed myself soooo hard to run 3 miles, on one hand it felt great just to be back outdoors running and on the other hand I knew I was probably causing myself more damage. Frustrated wasn't the word, having been told different things by different people i.e maybe you should just give up running, is it really that fun anyway? Maybe you shouldn't run you don't want to end up in a wheelchair?!  Taking matters into my own sorry hands the next day I cancelled my appointment and  I found a different Physio closer to home and also one that has a lady who has ran a 26 Marathons/Ultra Marathons. Now this is what I am talking about someone who knows what I'm going through! So I made an appointment for that evening... yes it will be another £40 down the drain but I had a good feeling about it so off I went....

Talk about £40 well spent, the physio was amazing really listened to everything I had to say did the same routine as previous physio then said they knew straight away what it was.... wait for it.... you'll never guess.
Piriformis! exactly what I had self diagnosed myself with (though I didn't tell him that) I was then explained how the Piriformis muscle works how I would have damaged it, and yes it was through swimming, also the reason why it would have been damaged swimming but not shown up until I ran 7 miles. I also got informed on what stage the injury is at and the recovery stages, what to do and not to do. Turns out taking anti flams is a no go and heat is required not ice. I then had an Ultrasound done and some Electro Therapy which should increase the healing process by 20-24% over the following two days. Now why the first money making scheming physio couldn't have done this I do not know?

Anyway the outcome was no running for a further 10 days, hence I'm not running today but he said I will be fine to take part in my Ultra Marathon but need to build my running back up with a combination of run/walking. Who could run 40 miles anyway?  Roll on the 1st July my first official day of being allowed to run and at least now I have found a decent physio to fix me after my Ultra! I'm trying to build up my fitness levels again using the bikes at the gym (the only form of cardio exercise I'm allowed to do) and doing some strength training, It's amazing how much fitness levels can slip after doing nothing for 3 weeks. Still 40 miles is a good introduction back into the world of running and you never know I may actually feel like a runner again in mind and body!

Again here is the only memento I have for the Malvern Half Marathon, there's always next year....

Fed up & scared

What do you blog about when you haven't been doing anything?... I don't want to bore anyone so this blog is more for me. As I say part of the reason I'm writing this blog is to keep a sort of diary and keep a log of training and things I've gone through and learnt.

Right now the last 3 weeks have been hell for me, first being told I had a slipped disc, then the pain moving from my back to my glutes which led to maybe thinking it was Piriformis, the pain stayed in the glutes for over a week then eventually made its way down to my leg...almost. Having gone to the doctors I was then told I have sprained my hip and not to run or do anything at all not even stretches for 4-6 weeks and that I will not be running the Grim Reaper Ultra Marathon. Thinking this can't be happening to me I went to the gym to use the sauna and bumped into James who is the manager and also recently qualified in sports massage and physio. He took a look and said it wasn't my hip at all, after me doing some moving around for him and describing the pain he told me I've torn my hamstring and still won't be running the Grim Reaper in 4 weeks time. I decided to buy myself a compression bandage for my hamstring and after wearing it for one evening and night my leg,glute,hip,back whatever it is felt better, I was able to get out of bed and even stand on my right foot and it not hurt.  At last a result!! 

Until the next day when I woke up and it was back to normal, I could still put all my weight on my right foot but still a bit niggly. All of this has made terrified of doing anything, and I've actually got it into my head I will never be able to run again. Don't get me wrong I know health comes first no matter what but I've been training for this Ultra Marathon and it's been the sole purpose (well in my eyes) of my life at the moment I just cannot imagine not doing it or attempting to do it at least!

After pulling out of the Sutton Park 10k last week I'm now facing the fact that there is a 90% chance I will be dropping out of the Malvern Half Marathon on the 24th June, a week on Sunday. I have been going around in circles being told what is wrong with me so booked an appointment to see a sports physio at the Worcestershire sports injury clinic this is happening on Tuesday, but baring in mind I've done nothing but laze around watching films and reading as much Harry Potter as my little brain will take I got impatient and emailed an aquaintance on facebook who is a sports injury physio, he is infact the physio that will be helping at the Grim Reaper.
After explaining my situation and pain etc I asked him if I could do some light exercise and non weight baring work. He thinks rather than the problem being my hamstring it's my hamstring insertion and that light non impact work will be fine and may even help.

With this in mind I have just come back from the gym, I felt fine before I went I'd describe the pain as being just on the crease of the glute where the buttock meets the leg but pain factor around 5%. I did 20 minutes on the cross trainer very gently and then 20 minutes on the sit down bike thing again very gentle. On the cross trainer I could feel my back twinging which was frustrating and I spent alot of the time praying to god that when I get off I wouldn't be in pain. Didn't happen; the walk down the steps out of the gym into the changing rooms soon told me that my pain was back and yet again it's moved...it's gone to my back again now!

Pain factor when walking I'd say is back up to 20% not a lot I know but I was thinking 3 weeks of doing nothing and a bit of light exercise would fix the bloody thing. Suppose its a case of shelling out £40 on Tuesday to find out what it is and what to do to make it better and probably get told I can't do the Grim Reaper (yeah yeah heard it all before)

One thing I looked into tonight was my Garmin account logging my exercise for today after all I didn't want Garmin thinking I've popped my clogs just yet! I looked pitifully at my June month (which had absolutely nothing on it except INJURED on every week!) and back to my May month and looked at the time I hurt myself. I was sure I did whatever I have done swimming but looking at the calender I swam 50 lengths on the 21st May.. fine.. then ran on the 22nd may only 2 miles but no issues, then ran again on the 23rd may no issues apart from the heat, then on the 24th May my input says 7 mile run/walk/hot/injured. So I injured myself on the 24th May during a run, then swam 50 lengths on the 25th May and did Trailblazer 10k on the 26th May which is when I was in agony and had to walk majority of the way and have not ran since.

Interesting... think that bit of info may need to go to the physio with me on Tuesday. I probably should have written this after Physio so I could put what is wrong with me but I fear I will either be too depressed to do anything after seeing the physio on Tuesday or I will be locked up for punching the physio after he tells me there is no way I will run the Grim Reaper in 4 weeks!

Here's praying when I wake up tomorrow the pain is back to 5% or even better 0% please god pleaaseee!!!    

Pulling out of my first race is a pain in the ass!

This blog should be about how great the Sutton Park 10k was today.... but it''s not because I didn't go because I can't run.

Following on from last weeks Trailblazer when I got home I had a lie down and then couldn't actually move I was in so much pain. I couldn't get down the stairs without placing each foot on every step as couldn't shift  all my weight to my right side without it being total agony. This carried on until the Monday when I went to work which involves sitting down all day and again struggling to get up. Another problem being I had two flights of stairs to contend with to get to the ladies toilet, so I was left with no alternative but to use the disabled toilet (which the sink doesn't work in) and then wash my hands in the gents toilet obviously giving a very loud knock before entering!!

Thinking if I rest and do nothing for the week and ice my back etc  it will be ok for today and I could still do the race even if I walked some of it, so that's what I did. I carried on going to the gym only to use the jacuzzi and steam room, the jacuzzi seemed to help and by mid week the pain had eased of my back and was now a searing pain in my right buttock. I don't usually like self diagnoses as half the time I think I'm going to die but did google the symptoms I have and came to the conclusion I was suffering with Piriformis Syndrome.

 It all tied in with that and I found some stretches to do which hurt like hell doing them but seemed to ease the pain overall. By Thursday I was quite confident I could do the run and stupidly went to the gym, the pool looked so inviting that I slipped in and swam a couple of lengths which was excruciating so I promptly stopped and realised that it was probably one of the stupidest things I've done.  Looking back at the injury I actually think it happened whilst swimming but didn't really notice it until I tried running. I am not the strongest swimmer in the world I used to hate it as a kid and had pushed myself quite hard one night to go from 40 lengths to 50 (please note I had only started swimming two weeks prior).

Friday night was spent praying for a miracle for Sunday morning for me to wake up, bound out of bed and be able to run no problems, Saturday morning I woke up no better and really feeling very sorry for myself and mopey. I didn't want to forgo my run, I wanted to run, I wanted my medal add that on top of feeling like a caged animal all week and that's how I felt! So I (this will be the second most stupid thing I've done) got my running gear on and walked to the end of the road, which was painful but I thought maybe a run would fix the problem maybe my muscle just needs loosening up so I ran ...... for all of about 10 seconds then made a noise something like "arrgghhoooooooowwwweeee" and then stopped and then walked. Wow talk about a pain in the ass! Deciding I hadn't been outside all week I thought ok no running but I may as well walk the rest of the mile loop. Never before have I taken so long to do 1 mile... It took me just over 20 minutes!! every step was like someone prodding my buttock with a massive prodding thingy.

And that ladies and gentleman set me back to square one hhmmmm around last Sunday. Having now decided that sacrificing one race was enough I'm being really good and resting completely, icing my bum 3 times a day and taking anti inflammatory tablets which actually work that well I wish I'd popped 5 or 6 this morning and done the bloody race! I have got 3 weeks until my next race the Malvern Half Marathon and I really don't want to miss out again.

So in all its glory here is my only memento of the Sutton Park 10k that I didn't go to....  taaa daaaa.