Injured. On the way to get my UTMB medical certificate signed
09/05/11 16:11
I was on the way to the doctors, carefully clutching my UTMB medical certificate. I had plenty of time, but couldn’t be bothered to wait for the lights to change at a pedestrian crossing. So I started to ‘sprint’ across the road. Half-way across something ‘went’ in my right calf. And the sprint became a hop. Followed by a frantic hobble to make it to the doctors on time. And convince the doctor, that despite being unable to walk properly I was fit to run 100 mountainous miles in 4 months time...
Rewinding a couple of weeks... I’d finished the ‘Haworth Hobble-Hardmoors 55’ back-to-back weekends feeling fine.
Next up was several weeks of work travel (Amsterdam, Swindon, Glasgow and Bologna) with the Calderdale Hike in the middle.
I arrived at Calderdale feeling tired, but otherwise OK, and aiming for a time somewhere in the middle of 2010’s good (for me...) run of 8.43 and 2009’s 9.30 casual plod. My right leg felt a bit tight for the first couple of flat miles, but I didn’t think much of it, assuming it’d ease as I warmed up.
Unfortunately not. On the first steep climb both of my calves were excruciatingly tight, and I ground almost to a halt and the rest of the back end of the field streamed past me...
I slowly worked my way back past a handful of people, but by 10 miles I’d developed an array of random aches. And to increase my entertainment levels, rather than sticking to the tried and tested route choices I used last year I got creative... The low-light was swopping a runnable gravel track followed by a short sharp climb for an interminable plod through slowly rising boggy ground (although I did manage to plod past a group of youngish blokes at this point...). I kept plodding away and ended up finishing in 9.23, just inside 2009’s casual stroll...
The next day I was waddling/hobbling worse than I’ve done in a long time, so I decided not to take the running shoes to Bologna and have a few days rest. When I got home the legs still weren’t right, but nothing specifically wrong, until the road crossing incident... I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but the underlying cause appears to be a tight ITB.
Common sense prevailed and I DNSed the Highland Fling (my first ultra DNS). I’d had one eye on trying to better my placing in the ‘most total points’ category in the Run Further UK ultra-running championships (last year I was just outside the top 3) but convinced myself it wasn’t worth jeopardising UTMB (or the rest of my May plans). I rewarded myself by spending the money I’d otherwise have spent on the train fare on a pair of blingy new trekking poles.
Two weeks of massage and stretching and I’m back running. The calf is fine, but the underlying tightest isn’t quite gone.
Next up: Fellsman (and hoping my old Montrail Highlanders pass the kit-check as their ‘not quite yet worn-in’ replacements took the skin off both my heels yesterday...). I had been planning to go hard(er) until Fleet Moss and (grouping permitting) try and get my time down to something closer to 20 hours (23:23 in 2009, 21:47 in 2010). But now the goal is to get around in one piece.
Rewinding a couple of weeks... I’d finished the ‘Haworth Hobble-Hardmoors 55’ back-to-back weekends feeling fine.
Next up was several weeks of work travel (Amsterdam, Swindon, Glasgow and Bologna) with the Calderdale Hike in the middle.
I arrived at Calderdale feeling tired, but otherwise OK, and aiming for a time somewhere in the middle of 2010’s good (for me...) run of 8.43 and 2009’s 9.30 casual plod. My right leg felt a bit tight for the first couple of flat miles, but I didn’t think much of it, assuming it’d ease as I warmed up.
Unfortunately not. On the first steep climb both of my calves were excruciatingly tight, and I ground almost to a halt and the rest of the back end of the field streamed past me...
I slowly worked my way back past a handful of people, but by 10 miles I’d developed an array of random aches. And to increase my entertainment levels, rather than sticking to the tried and tested route choices I used last year I got creative... The low-light was swopping a runnable gravel track followed by a short sharp climb for an interminable plod through slowly rising boggy ground (although I did manage to plod past a group of youngish blokes at this point...). I kept plodding away and ended up finishing in 9.23, just inside 2009’s casual stroll...
The next day I was waddling/hobbling worse than I’ve done in a long time, so I decided not to take the running shoes to Bologna and have a few days rest. When I got home the legs still weren’t right, but nothing specifically wrong, until the road crossing incident... I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but the underlying cause appears to be a tight ITB.
Common sense prevailed and I DNSed the Highland Fling (my first ultra DNS). I’d had one eye on trying to better my placing in the ‘most total points’ category in the Run Further UK ultra-running championships (last year I was just outside the top 3) but convinced myself it wasn’t worth jeopardising UTMB (or the rest of my May plans). I rewarded myself by spending the money I’d otherwise have spent on the train fare on a pair of blingy new trekking poles.
Two weeks of massage and stretching and I’m back running. The calf is fine, but the underlying tightest isn’t quite gone.
Next up: Fellsman (and hoping my old Montrail Highlanders pass the kit-check as their ‘not quite yet worn-in’ replacements took the skin off both my heels yesterday...). I had been planning to go hard(er) until Fleet Moss and (grouping permitting) try and get my time down to something closer to 20 hours (23:23 in 2009, 21:47 in 2010). But now the goal is to get around in one piece.