Santa is NOT Coming to Town

This Santa Claus is definitely not coming to town in Wilmslow Cheshire tomorrow. 

I should be taking part in the Wilmslow festive 10K for which I enjoy wearing a Santa outfit most years but sadly a back strain has decided to get worse just at the wrong time. It's really tempting to go ahead and run but I've a horrible feeling that I'm just going to hurt myself and knock my training back even further . This is really depressing as I'd only just about got my Achilles right and was hoping to get on with my training properly, but instead of that I've been knocked back a few weeks and I am now seriously concerned as to where things go from here.

This autumn-winter so far has been really bad news for me with a series of injuries from hamstring pulls to recurring Achilles pain and my back coming back to haunt me. To explain the last comment I hurt my back when I was 19, 50 years ago, and over the years it regularly decides to give me problems, usually at the most inopportune times.

Trying to maintain some fitness and strength, my Thursday run was replaced by a 400m swim and my Saturday indoor bike session replaced by a 5km fast walk. I will miss the 10k race tomorrow but, all being well, get in a short run on Monday which is my long run day.

My Training Plan

Ironically, I created my outline training plan last week and it's already gone to pot. On the positive side, I learned during training for my 65th birthday Half-Marathon  that plans have to be flexible. That time I built a solid progression and took no account of holidays, appointment clashes, family emergencies, illness, injury etc. 

For my 70th birthday London Marathon, the first thing  I did was scour my calendar for likely holidays or trips and matched them to rest periods allocating long runs to fit. I have taken my kit with me on several trips and never used it once. Knowing my own body now I have also dropped the simple continuous increase in duration/distance and instead ramp up and fall back in stages. This should both assist with boredom and reduced injury likelihood.

The other big change is that I am planning based on Duration rather than Distance, though admittedly with an eye to both. As I recover from injury I may be out for 50 minutes but that will be a walk/run combination, in healthier times it will be all run and therefore a longer distance. I anticipate being on the streets of London between 5 & 6 hours and monitor that against my actual pace as I train.

Miles vs Kilometres

I have stuck to training in Kilometres after being tempted to miles due to the Marathon tending to be described in miles. I am used to managing my routes in Km and the numbers pass by so much faster. I tend to think as I run how far I am in terms or proportion of distance covered, e.g. I know when I am 2/3 of the way and only have 1/3 left. I also like to think of a Half as 2 x 10km (plus a bit) and now the Marathon as 4 x 10 (plus a lot). I distinctly recall 3/4 through the Half Marathon thinking, right, only a parkrun to go, I can do that.

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That Greek Dude has it in for Me

The warrior Achilles is one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. According to legend, Achilles was extraordinarily strong, courageous and loyal, but he had one vulnerability–his “Achilles heel.”

In my previous post two weeks ago, I was having problems with my right Achilles and that got much worse so today has been my first run for over 2 weeks. Luckily the gap coincided with a week of planned rest put into my training plan because I was going away with the family for a long weekend, so I didn’t lose as much training as I would have otherwise. 

For the first few days I was using ibuprofen gel and a compression bandage around Achilles and my ankle and did my best to rest it. I then moved onto an ankle support which I bought from Boots the chemist which does seem to have been good. I am wearing the support for any at risk activity but otherwise carrying on a normal life. I have been using an exercise which is new to me frequently throughout the day. Whether lying or sitting I extend my feet down as far as I can and hold for 30s then return to neutral before drawing them upwards and holding for another 30s. I repeat these 3 more times and am finding I am immediately mobile in the morning if I do this in bed before rising and it completely removes the stiffness I was feeling when first walking.

Today’s run was a tester so was only 20 minutes and just short of three kilometres and as yet, four hours later, I’m not suffering any pain. At its worst a week and a half ago, there was a distinct lump in the Achilles which was very tender to touch but a mix of rest and gentle exercises seems to be doing the trick and the contours of the Achilles itself are now quite reasonable and can be touched without pain. 

Self-Inflicted Injury - a warning

This problem with my Achilles is a salutary tale to anyone older or who hasn’t regularly worked their Achilles. I got this injury when I started running aged 59 on one of my earliest runs. Though new to running after a 40-year gap, I did a lot of hill walking and was fit with leg strength and lung and heart capacity and found it strangely easy at first. This led to a piece of idiot enthusiasm when I decided that I could actually sprint a little. That 80 metres has haunted me for the last ten years and I think will continue to. Please, take it easy until your body has adjusted if you are new to running.

Next Steps

The plan now is gentle, regular runs to get back into it, but I have a 10K in two weeks’ time which I’m hoping to manage to complete without doing any damage.

Wilmslow Festive 10K next on 27th November.

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