Sunday 28 December 2014

Whales and Marlins

I feel it is no coincidence that this Christmas I was given two books which are undoubtedly related: Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea', and Melville's 'Moby Dick'. Both describe the immense efforts of people to overcome multifarious obstacles in order to capture a monster far bigger than themselves (although I haven't read Moby Dick yet). It may be over-dramatic, but in some way this is how the marathon has become for me. Particularly since the calf problems, it has been a daily struggle to stay on top and build the mileage back up enough to make the marathon plausible. I put in calf-strengthening exercises daily, I now also slot in postural exercises and some 'neural flossing' as recommended by John. I am careful to warm up and down thoroughly around each run. I run three times per week, unsure each time whether the calf will fail again, but monitoring and adapting my runs accordingly. Add to this that I will not be satisfied purely with finishing the marathon, but I would like to run a reasonable time. My running is currently limited not by my fitness but by the leg, which sometimes does not allow me to run further. This is concerning given that my longest mileage since the injury is 15 miles. Still, I believe that my approach is giving me the best chance possible. It combines patience, determination, and discipline. Keep doing the exercises even though you may be bored. Keep training even though the weather may be terrible. Keep believing even though other people may not hide their doubt. There is never a guarantee of success, but you can always put in your best effort possible.

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Am I feeling improvement?

I am loathe to say it after only a few days of my new computer set-up at home and adding in the standing-to-sitting exercises to my 3 sets of exercises per day, but I may be feeling some improvement. The calf still aches and complains a bit, but seems to recover quickly and I don't get quite the same taut, guitar-string, could-snap-any-moment feeling. Also, I am getting an ache in the upper right butt, suggesting either I'm having new problems or that area is starting to take on some of the load. However, if I compare the right leg to the left, it is still nowhere near better...the left leg jsut does all this stuff without a murmur.

Following the 15-miler on Sunday and a decent runabout in a singles badminton game on Monday, overall things felt good (or at least better than I'd have expected) and I felt like pushing it a little today. My first mile is always slow because I'm getting going and it's where a lot of the uphill is from our flat. However, following an intial 8:30 mile, I ran a speedy further 8 miles to average under 7:30-minute miling for a bit over 9 miles altogether, including a sub 1-hour first 8 miles.

As always, I need to see how the body reacts, and I have another physio appointment tomorrow before the Christmas break so I'll see what he thinks.

Sunday 21 December 2014

Made it to 15 miles

On a damp but mild morning, I set off hoping for at least 10 miles to get 25 for the week. I am never certain at the moment how my leg is going to react, but with a slightly slower start it all held together pretty well for the journey to the downs. I felt the odd twinge, but it wasn't until around the 11-12 mile mark that I really started to get some warning signs from the right calf. Because I'd put on some distance cruising around the downs I was going to have to run 13.6 miles to make it home, so pushed on to 14, and then possibly stupidly decided to add a little extra to get to 15 despite complaints from the leg. So 15 miles complete in 1:58, just under 8 minutes per mile...I'm pleased but will definitely have to check my leg hasn't fallen off over night...

Saturday 20 December 2014

Physio Trip Number Two

On my second appointment with John, he once again demonstrated to me the flaws in my posture. With me standing casually, a quick profile photo showed that my pelvis and nose stuck out in front of the rest of my body. I am curving my lower spine backwards and then my neck and head are pushing too far forwards from my shoulders (see photo 1); as John rightly pointed out, I am a two-pillow sleeper. These extra curves in my skeletal frame mean that the nerves strung over that frame have further to travel than they should, and therefore have less give in them. My first prescription was to sort out my posture during the many hours I use a computer (at the office and particularly when using my laptop at home, for which my posture is really pretty terrible).I have included a before (photo 2) and after (photo 3) shot of my laptop setup.

Following this, we tried some little hops as if skipping, first on both legs then switching to one leg, showing that this was much worse on my right side. Similarly, when balancing on one leg, I would lean my upper body much further to the side on the right leg than when balancing on the left. It seems I am literally a lazy arse, at least on the right side, where the upper glute muscles do not want to work to keep me balanced. Prescription two was the controlled sitting exercise from the physiotherapy.co.uk website to wake these muscles up. You or I may well ask what all this has to do with my calf injury? I believe John's answer might be that you treat the body and not the symptoms of injury, and the rest follows...there is a logic to this, and as a scientist I see that you can only test this theory by following the advice, so fingers crossed and here goes...

Photo 1 - my neck looking a bit forward from my back



















Photo 2 - how I used a laptop before the physio session (borrowing my girlfriend's laptop here)


Photo 3 - my new laptop setup at the desk in the bedroom


Unexpected Physio Trip

All is still largely going to plan - I am running around 7-8 miles mid-week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and around a half marathon distance on the weekends. However, the calf is still very much not back to normal. I always feel it, sporadically have to stop to stretch it, and always have concern about something bad happening to it before I can get back home. It clearly is not as easy-going as the left calf.

Last week, I went to the Moti running shop hoping for a recommendation for a physio to assess the problems with my calf. Lucky for me, John walked through the door at that moment and offered me a free assessment. With pause only to make a vital cup of tea, we got to work. John walked me through the issues with my body, step by logical step, gradually revealing a complete picture which I feel he knew practically from the start. Neither of my feet land in a straight line down from the knee. The two legs are different, with the right (where I have the calf issues) worse than the left. My right side is weaker than the left in certain areas: lifting the knee up towards the chest, and lifting up the big toe. John traced these issues to the L2 and L5 vertebrae in my lumbar spine, and demonstrated that these were more tender than the others. Overall, I'm no longer surprised that I am having problems running! Whilst there is a considerable list of problems with the posture of my body, having them pointed out with such clarity has given me genuine optimism that something can be done about them. I hope that optimism is well founded.


Sunday 7 December 2014

Best long run so far

A beautiful winter's morning - relatively mild and clear, blue, sunny skies. I get the hat on, partly to keep warm but mostly to keep my hair out of my eyes. From early on I'm feeling pretty good and the mile times are quicker than I intended, but the calf is mostly okay. Somewhat recklessly I push on because it is exhilarating to be running through that morning at a half-decent pace, but I am aware this may be stupid and keep my senses on the calf. It gets harder from about 9 miles onwards, and I can feel the calf struggling a bit for the last couple of miles. In total I complete 14 miles in 1:45:30, just over 7:30 minute miles on average - I am very happy with that!...now just have to do some after-care on the legs.

Saturday 6 December 2014

Current Training Routine

It's been four months since the original injury, and (fingers crossed) things are still going reasonably well. I've got into a rough training regime to help the legs and the running that I will lay out below:

Daily, I try to do 3 sets of leg strengthening exercises, once in the morning, once when I get back from work, and once later in the evening. These comprise calf raises (Fig. 1), calf raises with knees bent (to strengthen the soleus muscles; Fig. 2); the same again but on one leg at a time; one-legged squats on an inflatable balance cushion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvpcxcOFWbg); sideways leg raises and clam leg raises (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV9lrplkdG4).

Once per day I foam roll all the leg muscles (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki6roIdrD9Q), and sometimes with a tennis ball I'll roll my glutes and the calf muscles a little deeper.

I started having a protein supplement drink once per day after the injury - I am vegetarian, and whilst for half marathons I've never had a problem, I felt that for a marathon you should actually be having more than the daily recommended amount of protein (55g for men) to rebuild the torn muscle fibres. I get this mostly from seeded wholemeal bread (around 5g per slice), pulses (e.g., a can of baked beans is around 20g), eggs (around 5g per egg), and dairy (particularly cheese).

I do 5 minutes of warm up and down on the exercise bike for each run (minimum 1.5 miles each), and stretch out the legs and hips carefully after a run (see Figs. 3-5).

Figure 1. Calf Raises

Figure 2. Calf raises with knees bent

Figure 3. Stetching out the calf

Figure 4. Stretching out the soleus

Stretching out the hip flexors

Thursday 4 December 2014

Sports massages are painful

I managed a half marathon at the weekend, taking my mileage for November up above the 100 mile mark, which I'm incredibly pleased with. The calf felt really tight so I booked myself in for a sports massage. Without doubt, sports massages are bloody painful. Strangely, the left calf and the quads were more painful then anywhere else, even though it's the right leg that's giving me trouble. However, I feel like it all must be good for me if it hurts! Following the massage I felt like pushing things a little, and did a decent 7 miles at 7:40 per mile pace. It feels great to actually run, although I still wouldn't say I'm allowing myself into top gear yet.