Merry Christmas everyone!
I did a tempo run this morning, the first bit of sustained speed I've done for 5 months. It was tough but I'm glad I could do it.
Without the power of massage I doubt I would have been able to run this morning. I've been relying on my massage therapist to keep me going over the last few weeks as I've built back up quickly. With Xmas upon us I've had to rely on my own self massage to keep me going.
My calves were the first to complain, but I was able to keep them nice and loose with some regular gentle massaging (Molton Brown massage oil - fragrant!). Then after the 9-mile Sunday run my knee was aching because of a tight quad. More Molton Brown and a bit of vigorous massage and it was all fixed. (It's tough doing an intense massage yourself - it felt like quite a workout.)
Then yesterday I stepped off the bottom stair to be greeted by an intense pain in the ball of my left foot. It was a slight concern as I've never had anything like that before, but I realised it was most probably a tight muscle in my foot trapping a nerve; the foot muscles don't get used during cycling so they have presumably took a bit of a beating since my return to running. I iced and heated during the day and tried rolling a tennis ball under my foot, but when I did my core exercises in the evening I was still getting pain. I got the oil out and had a real good go at the sole of my foot. I could feel a mass of tight muscle back towards my heel and a slightly crunchy feeling in the middle of foot. A few minutes of vigorous fiddling later and the pain was gone.
This morning I applied a heat pack and did some more gentle massage before my run as my foot ached a bit. The run felt fine - my foot had a rather warm feeling to it but there was no sign of pain or soreness. Massage rules!
I won't try to teach massage techniques on this blog - you can google "self massage" if you want to. What I will say is always use oil, massage towards the heart (or you could damage your veins by creating a back pressure), and don't press hard on any trigger points you find, just keep moving firmly over them until they ease. (You may want to google "trigger points" too.)
Happy seasonal massages!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Speed returns
I've spent a few weeks now building up gradually on the treadmill. I've been doing some low key speed sessions on the treadmill and building it up gradually so that my return to the faster stuff wouldn't be such a shock to the system. So last night it was time for my first proper speed session (even though it was only my 3rd outing on tarmac!).
The details:
10x400m with 155m jog recovery:
1:42 effort, 57s recovery
1:46 effort, 57s rec 127bpm minimum during recovery
1:44 effort, 57s rec 128bpm
1:42 effort max 148bpm, 57s rec 133bpm
1:42 effort max 149bpm, 58s 131bpm
1:43 effort max 150bpm, 58s 134bpm
1:40 effort max 152bpm, 60s 134bpm (training partner picked it up a bit)
1:43 effort max 151bpm, 62s 133bpm (me leading once more)
1:42 effort max 151bpm, 72s 122bpm (longer rec to let HR drop to 125bpm)
1:41 effort max 153bpm
The higher HRs are the maximum I reached at the end of the interval. The lower HRs are what it dropped to during recovery. The HRs compare pretty well with the last time I ran this 8 months ago, but my times were only 4 or 5s slower, so I'm pretty pleased with that. My calves are a bit sore today, but tonight's gentle 4 miles seemed OK. It seems I've kept my cardio fitness going quite well, but I just have to get my legs used to the pounding again.
The details:
10x400m with 155m jog recovery:
1:42 effort, 57s recovery
1:46 effort, 57s rec 127bpm minimum during recovery
1:44 effort, 57s rec 128bpm
1:42 effort max 148bpm, 57s rec 133bpm
1:42 effort max 149bpm, 58s 131bpm
1:43 effort max 150bpm, 58s 134bpm
1:40 effort max 152bpm, 60s 134bpm (training partner picked it up a bit)
1:43 effort max 151bpm, 62s 133bpm (me leading once more)
1:42 effort max 151bpm, 72s 122bpm (longer rec to let HR drop to 125bpm)
1:41 effort max 153bpm
The higher HRs are the maximum I reached at the end of the interval. The lower HRs are what it dropped to during recovery. The HRs compare pretty well with the last time I ran this 8 months ago, but my times were only 4 or 5s slower, so I'm pretty pleased with that. My calves are a bit sore today, but tonight's gentle 4 miles seemed OK. It seems I've kept my cardio fitness going quite well, but I just have to get my legs used to the pounding again.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
I'm back!
I've been somewhat quiet on this blog for many months now. That's what injury does to me. I don't like blogging despair and despondency, and there's been a bit of that lately. However, things are getting better so hello again!
As you have now gathered, I got injured. The short headline is I damaged a stomach muscle pole-vaulting. The longer version is it's a little more complicated than that and could in fact have been mostly a back problem.
Back in July, after 3 hard races in the space of a week, and during a full 70-mile week of marathon training I decided to try pole-vaulting. Initial impressions were good - I can pole-vault! The following day though my hip flexors were sore, to the point that I was having trouble lifting my left leg. If I'd taken a few days rest then I think that would have been the last of it, but of course I kept the training going as it didn't seem to affect my running. After a full week of training I ran a 20-miler, suffering what I thought was stitch for just about the whole way. Maybe it was that run, or maybe the crunches I did in the gym the following day, but I'd seriously damaged my psoas minor. I tried a few days rest, I tried running on grass, I tried doing just drills (heel flicks, fast feet, and high steps didn't seem to hurt - it was only the forward stride which was the problem), but after a couple of weeks I realised I was going to have to stop running completely to allow it to heal.
It's easy to blame the pole-vault, but it's not that simple. The day before the pole-vault session I ran a 5000m track race. During the warm up I remember commenting to team mate Gina that I had stitch before I'd even started. Stitch had been an increasing feature of my races but as always I'd try to massage it away, sometimes successfully, or just ignore it and carry on. I didn't actually tear anything during the pole-vault and the soreness I felt the following day was on the left hand side, not the right where the stitch problems and subsequent injury problems were.
Once I'd accepted the full seriousness of the injury then the real frustrations set in. I couldn't run - that was a simple fact. The sharp burning sensation in my crotch was worrying, presumably caused by the psoas minor locked in spasm across the right hand side of my pelvis pulling my symphysis pubis (the pubic joint between the 2 halves of the pelvis) apart. Walking was painful too. I could walk up and down stairs OK but every step forward on level ground was accompanied by pain from the psoas minor. I could cycle without pain, but everything else seemed to aggravate it. Rest just seemed to make things worse as the muscle just tightened.
The psoas minor runs from your lower back, just under the ribs (T12/L1) to your pubic bone and is mostly deep inside under several layers of abdominal muscle. You can massage the very top of the muscle in your back, or the very bottom of the muscle (actually the tendon) near your crotch, but you can't really get at the bulk of the muscle, making treatment a problem. An annoying aspect of all this is that 40% off the population don't actually have a psoas minor! There was me thinking that we're pretty much all muscular copies of each other and there are a whole load of folks, men and women, out there who don't have this muscle to injure! I read various reports on the internet about how this injury can be worse than achilles problems and how some people resort to surgery to have the tendon cut, effectively removing the muscle. This didn't help - there's no way I was going to resort to surgery!
Through all this, my old back problems came back - not helped by the cycling which always affects my back. I needed to do my core exercises to help the back, but any form of abdominal exercise hurt the injury. I was receiving regular physio to my back and stomach but independent of this I discovered that if I really dug my thumb into the vertebra around the origin of the psoas I could get some relief from the psoas spasm/pain. The idea that somehow the injury was back related started to form, but as the pain was in my crotch and the back soreness was quite a distance away, I wasn't entirely sure.
I went to spectate the Toronto marathon. I had tried to get my money back from my 'Sports Direct' holiday insurance, but apparently coverage for 'Cancellation due to injury' only applies to injuries serious enough to stop you travelling. I'd read all the small print and thought I was covered - another lesson learnt there. I made the most of my trip but it was tough watching the marathon from the sidelines having travelled all that way - at least my trip to Niagara Falls the following day made up for what was a pretty lousy weekend. Perhaps the hindsight highlight of the trip though was a chance encounter with a chiropractor at the marathon expo. I described my symptoms, suspicious of the fact that my back problems were part of the overall problem and the chiro seemed certain that he could fix my problem with just some back manipulation. He reckoned the nerve supplying the psoas minor was being trapped and not allowing the muscle to relax, explaining that you need a nerve supply to both tense a muscle and also to relax it. I ought to book some sessions with him. Shame he was in Toronto!
I returned to the UK with renewed hope that treating my back was the way forward. I enrolled in a back class and went to see a chiropractor, in addition to the physiotherapy I'd been having every week since the injury. There was no miracle cure but I did start to notice improvements. The first few back classes were a little disconcerting at first with the pain, albeit slight, that I was getting during the abdominal exercises, but a few weeks later I was able to do the class without pain. I returned to the gym and discovered that I could use the cross trainer. In fact the only exercises I couldn't do in the gym were the treadmill and lunges. My spirits lifted at the realisation that I could do full gym sessions with aerobic exercise that was closely related to running. After a few more weeks of gym I was able to tolerate brief spells on the treadmill provided I kept the gradient flat and the speed low.
All these improvements came when I started with the chiropractor. The chiro will of course tell you that he fixed me, but of course I was still having physio and going to the back class and then gym. I suspect the treatment wouldn't have been effective without the exercise - it's a whole synergy thing.
It has now got to the stage where I have run 3 miles on grass without pain. I ran onto the tarmac afterwards and realised I still have a little way to go yet as the hard surface still jarred a lot. I think I'll wait another week or 2 before declaring myself injury free but I think I'm back now.
Only 4 months 7 days 19 hours to go until the London Marathon!
As you have now gathered, I got injured. The short headline is I damaged a stomach muscle pole-vaulting. The longer version is it's a little more complicated than that and could in fact have been mostly a back problem.
Back in July, after 3 hard races in the space of a week, and during a full 70-mile week of marathon training I decided to try pole-vaulting. Initial impressions were good - I can pole-vault! The following day though my hip flexors were sore, to the point that I was having trouble lifting my left leg. If I'd taken a few days rest then I think that would have been the last of it, but of course I kept the training going as it didn't seem to affect my running. After a full week of training I ran a 20-miler, suffering what I thought was stitch for just about the whole way. Maybe it was that run, or maybe the crunches I did in the gym the following day, but I'd seriously damaged my psoas minor. I tried a few days rest, I tried running on grass, I tried doing just drills (heel flicks, fast feet, and high steps didn't seem to hurt - it was only the forward stride which was the problem), but after a couple of weeks I realised I was going to have to stop running completely to allow it to heal.
It's easy to blame the pole-vault, but it's not that simple. The day before the pole-vault session I ran a 5000m track race. During the warm up I remember commenting to team mate Gina that I had stitch before I'd even started. Stitch had been an increasing feature of my races but as always I'd try to massage it away, sometimes successfully, or just ignore it and carry on. I didn't actually tear anything during the pole-vault and the soreness I felt the following day was on the left hand side, not the right where the stitch problems and subsequent injury problems were.
Once I'd accepted the full seriousness of the injury then the real frustrations set in. I couldn't run - that was a simple fact. The sharp burning sensation in my crotch was worrying, presumably caused by the psoas minor locked in spasm across the right hand side of my pelvis pulling my symphysis pubis (the pubic joint between the 2 halves of the pelvis) apart. Walking was painful too. I could walk up and down stairs OK but every step forward on level ground was accompanied by pain from the psoas minor. I could cycle without pain, but everything else seemed to aggravate it. Rest just seemed to make things worse as the muscle just tightened.
The psoas minor runs from your lower back, just under the ribs (T12/L1) to your pubic bone and is mostly deep inside under several layers of abdominal muscle. You can massage the very top of the muscle in your back, or the very bottom of the muscle (actually the tendon) near your crotch, but you can't really get at the bulk of the muscle, making treatment a problem. An annoying aspect of all this is that 40% off the population don't actually have a psoas minor! There was me thinking that we're pretty much all muscular copies of each other and there are a whole load of folks, men and women, out there who don't have this muscle to injure! I read various reports on the internet about how this injury can be worse than achilles problems and how some people resort to surgery to have the tendon cut, effectively removing the muscle. This didn't help - there's no way I was going to resort to surgery!
Through all this, my old back problems came back - not helped by the cycling which always affects my back. I needed to do my core exercises to help the back, but any form of abdominal exercise hurt the injury. I was receiving regular physio to my back and stomach but independent of this I discovered that if I really dug my thumb into the vertebra around the origin of the psoas I could get some relief from the psoas spasm/pain. The idea that somehow the injury was back related started to form, but as the pain was in my crotch and the back soreness was quite a distance away, I wasn't entirely sure.
I went to spectate the Toronto marathon. I had tried to get my money back from my 'Sports Direct' holiday insurance, but apparently coverage for 'Cancellation due to injury' only applies to injuries serious enough to stop you travelling. I'd read all the small print and thought I was covered - another lesson learnt there. I made the most of my trip but it was tough watching the marathon from the sidelines having travelled all that way - at least my trip to Niagara Falls the following day made up for what was a pretty lousy weekend. Perhaps the hindsight highlight of the trip though was a chance encounter with a chiropractor at the marathon expo. I described my symptoms, suspicious of the fact that my back problems were part of the overall problem and the chiro seemed certain that he could fix my problem with just some back manipulation. He reckoned the nerve supplying the psoas minor was being trapped and not allowing the muscle to relax, explaining that you need a nerve supply to both tense a muscle and also to relax it. I ought to book some sessions with him. Shame he was in Toronto!
I returned to the UK with renewed hope that treating my back was the way forward. I enrolled in a back class and went to see a chiropractor, in addition to the physiotherapy I'd been having every week since the injury. There was no miracle cure but I did start to notice improvements. The first few back classes were a little disconcerting at first with the pain, albeit slight, that I was getting during the abdominal exercises, but a few weeks later I was able to do the class without pain. I returned to the gym and discovered that I could use the cross trainer. In fact the only exercises I couldn't do in the gym were the treadmill and lunges. My spirits lifted at the realisation that I could do full gym sessions with aerobic exercise that was closely related to running. After a few more weeks of gym I was able to tolerate brief spells on the treadmill provided I kept the gradient flat and the speed low.
All these improvements came when I started with the chiropractor. The chiro will of course tell you that he fixed me, but of course I was still having physio and going to the back class and then gym. I suspect the treatment wouldn't have been effective without the exercise - it's a whole synergy thing.
It has now got to the stage where I have run 3 miles on grass without pain. I ran onto the tarmac afterwards and realised I still have a little way to go yet as the hard surface still jarred a lot. I think I'll wait another week or 2 before declaring myself injury free but I think I'm back now.
Only 4 months 7 days 19 hours to go until the London Marathon!
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