Running for the thrill of it

"We are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it. Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it... I'm just in awe of what's in front of me."





Friday, October 7, 2011

Plan B

I had two weeks of good training and then it all went downhill rather quickly. Last Sunday I went out for a 30km run at Lake Manchester and everything was going quite well until the last 4km or so. Coming down a steep hill I felt that very horrible sharp pain on the outside of my left knee that can only mean one thing - ITB syndrome. I had quite a few downhills to get through before I got back to my car, so I limped and grunted my way back over the next 4km. Once home I jumped on the foam roller and applied a heat pack. I was a bit grumpy, but not too worried as I ran 100km on a dodgy ITB last year. It was nothing that pain killers, massage and dogged determination couldn't overcome.

I took the first few days of this week off to help my ITB loosen up. I was therefore very surprised to wake up Thursday morning with pain in my foot. Worse still, the pain was in the exact same place as it was when I had my stress fracture earlier this year. Uh oh. As yet I have done little about it. I am just hoping the pain will go away. I don't think this has followed what I would consider the clinical development of a stress fracture, so I am hopeful that it is just some tight muscles from walking in heals.

In any case, I have decided to go through with a plan that has been forming in the back of my mind for a while - train for a triathlon instead! I figure that I can reduce my running mileage and up my swimming and cycling and hopefully start to avoid some of these injuries. My plan is to do a baby distance tri next month and then build myself up to a real distance. So watch this space people. Follow my training and progress (or lack there of) over the coming months! Fun times await.

No comments:

Post a Comment