Looks like I’ve got a place, if I want to, for the ING New York marathon. I’d really like to run it but getting a bit concerned that perhaps it’s pushing myself and my body too much to do two marathons within a year, more precisely New York on the 2nd of November this year and then the London one in April next year.
It’s (obviously) really hard work for the body and I guess I’m a bit concerned that my knees won’t be able to handle it. On the other hand I’d probably only run 4 times a week and focus more on building strength, which I can start with as soon as the air cast comes off. I don’t know… In a way I’m thinking that since I’m already in good running shape it’s not going to be so hard to train to the NY one if I keep up my current form (obviously not running the same long runs). I could then allow myself 1 ½ months break (i.e. less running but still keeping up the shape) between the NY marathon and before I need to start training for the London one and surely if I’ve just completed a marathon and been wise about the training volume my body should be used to it and it shouldn’t pose too much stress on it.
But, at the same time I think back on how tired I’ve been from the marathon training this year and wonder if it’d be too much, but then I think of that it was a bit different as I didn’t run more than 7k in one go before I started my training mid November, plus I missed a month due to illness. I guess my head is telling me that it should be fine, but then I get worried about my knees and causing them permanent damage… I don’t know. Would really like to run NY and London. So typical of me to get it in my head, be stubborn and then before I know it I’ve signed up. Going to think it through and speak to my doctor when I see him on Tuesday for my 2nd X-ray.
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Wednesday 12 March 2008
Maybe I can run NY instead?
Really struggling with the thought of not running a marathon this year. I’ve had my mind set on it for what feels like an eternity and I really want to do it.
Have run the same distance and more as a half marathon a number of times during my training so it’s not really a challenge. Of course I could challenge myself time wise, but I want to complete a marathon, this year, not wait a year.
Looked at the World Marathon Majors and NY is on the 2nd of November. That should be far enough away, time wise that is, for my leg to heal and it should give me lots of time for training. Spoke to Alex in work who’s run NY twice and London once and she said NY was better though hillier.
Will look into it tomorrow and see if I can get a place. Never been to NY and Dion and I have been talking about going there anyway this year so why not combine the fun :D
All of a sudden I feel a bit happier!
Have run the same distance and more as a half marathon a number of times during my training so it’s not really a challenge. Of course I could challenge myself time wise, but I want to complete a marathon, this year, not wait a year.
Looked at the World Marathon Majors and NY is on the 2nd of November. That should be far enough away, time wise that is, for my leg to heal and it should give me lots of time for training. Spoke to Alex in work who’s run NY twice and London once and she said NY was better though hillier.
Will look into it tomorrow and see if I can get a place. Never been to NY and Dion and I have been talking about going there anyway this year so why not combine the fun :D
All of a sudden I feel a bit happier!
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Waiting for the MRI results
Just got back from having an MRI scan. Very noisy experience.
Managed to see the doctor last night (thank *** for private health care) and had an X-ray. Dr. James Youngman thought he could see a small stress fracture but wanted me to get a MRI to be sure. He advised me that until we got the result we should treat it as a fracture and asked the nurse to give me an air cast boot. Not knowing what it was (don't even know what they are called in Swedish as I've never had a fracture before) I was mildly shocked to see the size of it. More so when the nurse came in with a piece of paper for me to sign which basically said that if my insurance doesn't cover the air cast I need to pay for it myself, a mere £140. Spoke to AXA PPP and it turns out they don’t cover it. Having spent a fair bit of money on physio etc already I didn’t want to fork out the £140 unless I absolutely have to so we decided that I’d wait with the air cast until tomorrow (i.e. today) when I’ll have the MRI results.
Limped my way home only to find the latest Flora London marathon magazine waiting for me, including a new set of redlaces. Didn’t even open it. Think I’ve completely turned off my feelings for the marathon at the moment. I’m really started to have had enough. It’s bad enough that I probably wont’ be able to run, but having to walk around with a bloody moon boot on my leg and pay a stupid amount of money for it as well. I’m really not impressed. It’s not even good looking!!! Jess and Sabrina pointed out that if I do need to wear one I can use it to my benefit on the tube. Made me smile a bit, but then I start thinking about not being able to run the marathon, or run at all for x number of weeks… emptiness…
Well, perhaps the MRI comes back with a positive result! Perhaps it’s not so bad after all. 4 hours and 20 min until I get the results…
Managed to see the doctor last night (thank *** for private health care) and had an X-ray. Dr. James Youngman thought he could see a small stress fracture but wanted me to get a MRI to be sure. He advised me that until we got the result we should treat it as a fracture and asked the nurse to give me an air cast boot. Not knowing what it was (don't even know what they are called in Swedish as I've never had a fracture before) I was mildly shocked to see the size of it. More so when the nurse came in with a piece of paper for me to sign which basically said that if my insurance doesn't cover the air cast I need to pay for it myself, a mere £140. Spoke to AXA PPP and it turns out they don’t cover it. Having spent a fair bit of money on physio etc already I didn’t want to fork out the £140 unless I absolutely have to so we decided that I’d wait with the air cast until tomorrow (i.e. today) when I’ll have the MRI results.
Limped my way home only to find the latest Flora London marathon magazine waiting for me, including a new set of redlaces. Didn’t even open it. Think I’ve completely turned off my feelings for the marathon at the moment. I’m really started to have had enough. It’s bad enough that I probably wont’ be able to run, but having to walk around with a bloody moon boot on my leg and pay a stupid amount of money for it as well. I’m really not impressed. It’s not even good looking!!! Jess and Sabrina pointed out that if I do need to wear one I can use it to my benefit on the tube. Made me smile a bit, but then I start thinking about not being able to run the marathon, or run at all for x number of weeks… emptiness…
Well, perhaps the MRI comes back with a positive result! Perhaps it’s not so bad after all. 4 hours and 20 min until I get the results…
Sunday 9 March 2008
Can't believe it
As you know I've had a bit of problems with my right leg and lately it's been mostly around the shin area. Dion's been giving me massages but the pain hasn't really gone away. Went for a run on Thursday and it really hurt straight away in my right leg around the shin area, so much that I could hardly run on it. I really wanted to go for a run that day and took some of the pressure off by holding on to the handles while running at a really slow pace, but as soon as I let go the pain was there again. I stopped and stretched twice and was thinking that perhaps if the muscle just got a bit warmer it'd be ok. It got a little bit better but it still hurt but I pushed through (stupid I know). After 50min I gave up though. It was hurting too much and it felt really weak.
Yesterday I was talking to Dion, or actually complaining that my leg was so soar that I didn't think I'd be able to run on it all this weekend. Having a sports massage qualification he's been doing some tests on my leg and has pointed out that it doesn't seem like the muscles themselves are the problem but rather the bone. Since my calves muscles have been so soar I haven't even considered that it could be something with the bone, but after Dion suggested that I consult my running book it became obvious to me what it potentially could be. Found a diagnosis of something called a stress fracture, which I didn't even know existed. After having red about it in my book and googled it I started crying and I couldn't stop. I knew that the pain was rather serious and but I'd never crossed my mind that it could be so serious that it'd mean that I'd have to miss the marathon. Now that reality dawned on me.
After having calmed down a bit and stopped crying I started ringing different physios and got through to one in Kentish town called Sprint Physiotherapy. Spoke to one of the physios and after having asked me a bunch of questions he said that it didn't sound like it was a stress fracture but that he'd be able to see me tomorrow (i.e. today) to give me a proper assessment. Went down there today and quiet soon he said that it did actually look like I do have a stress fracture. My pain is in a very specific place and it's on the bone rather than on the soft tissues around the bone. He tried putting me on the treadmill before giving me a bit of massage and straight away the pain was there. I tried running again after a bit of massage and it felt a little bit better but the pain came on again pretty quickly and he told me to stop and that it wasn't a good sign. Walking back to his office I started crying. I can't believe that with 5 weeks to go it looks like I'm not going to be able to run.
Back in his office we did a few more tests, the same kind of bending and tensing tests that Dion has given me, and the pain wasn't worse but the same, which apparently was not the outcome we were looking for (had the pain been worse it would have indicated that it was the muscles and not the bone). So... right now it looks like I've got a small stress fracture or the beginning of one which means that I'll not be running the marathon but need to rest for up to 8 weeks. I'm going to get a bone scan to get it properly diagnosed and if I'm really lucky it turns out to be soft tissue related and then there are a number of things I can do to get me to the start and the finish line. But, it doesn't look likely and I'm really scared of getting my hopes up. I've really been looking forward to the day and my training has gone really well. I can't explain how gutted and absolutely empty I feel. Just can't believe it. Don't know how I'm going to cope with April 13th if I'm not going to be able to run (oh here we go again... crying, crying, crying). I'm so upset...
Yesterday I was talking to Dion, or actually complaining that my leg was so soar that I didn't think I'd be able to run on it all this weekend. Having a sports massage qualification he's been doing some tests on my leg and has pointed out that it doesn't seem like the muscles themselves are the problem but rather the bone. Since my calves muscles have been so soar I haven't even considered that it could be something with the bone, but after Dion suggested that I consult my running book it became obvious to me what it potentially could be. Found a diagnosis of something called a stress fracture, which I didn't even know existed. After having red about it in my book and googled it I started crying and I couldn't stop. I knew that the pain was rather serious and but I'd never crossed my mind that it could be so serious that it'd mean that I'd have to miss the marathon. Now that reality dawned on me.
After having calmed down a bit and stopped crying I started ringing different physios and got through to one in Kentish town called Sprint Physiotherapy. Spoke to one of the physios and after having asked me a bunch of questions he said that it didn't sound like it was a stress fracture but that he'd be able to see me tomorrow (i.e. today) to give me a proper assessment. Went down there today and quiet soon he said that it did actually look like I do have a stress fracture. My pain is in a very specific place and it's on the bone rather than on the soft tissues around the bone. He tried putting me on the treadmill before giving me a bit of massage and straight away the pain was there. I tried running again after a bit of massage and it felt a little bit better but the pain came on again pretty quickly and he told me to stop and that it wasn't a good sign. Walking back to his office I started crying. I can't believe that with 5 weeks to go it looks like I'm not going to be able to run.
Back in his office we did a few more tests, the same kind of bending and tensing tests that Dion has given me, and the pain wasn't worse but the same, which apparently was not the outcome we were looking for (had the pain been worse it would have indicated that it was the muscles and not the bone). So... right now it looks like I've got a small stress fracture or the beginning of one which means that I'll not be running the marathon but need to rest for up to 8 weeks. I'm going to get a bone scan to get it properly diagnosed and if I'm really lucky it turns out to be soft tissue related and then there are a number of things I can do to get me to the start and the finish line. But, it doesn't look likely and I'm really scared of getting my hopes up. I've really been looking forward to the day and my training has gone really well. I can't explain how gutted and absolutely empty I feel. Just can't believe it. Don't know how I'm going to cope with April 13th if I'm not going to be able to run (oh here we go again... crying, crying, crying). I'm so upset...
Tuesday 4 March 2008
500km completed
After I pressed 'end workout' on my iPod nano today, Paula Radcliff's voice came on. As soon as I heard 'This is Paula Radcliff...' I started wondering what she would congratulate me for. My run had been rather slow (hill training) and only 45 min so could neither be my fastest km/mile or longest distance run. Turned out that since I got my Nike+ and iPod nano, and started my marathon training I've put a mere 500km (310.7 miles) behind me. That's almost the distance from my home town Lund to Stockholm. It's taken me nearly 44 hours to complete and has used almost 30.000 kcal at the same time. Impressive!
Now I want more. I know I'm a gadget freak but I absolutely love Nike+. It's such great motivation for keeping on going. Kind of makes you want to keep on going only to find out when the next congratulation will be. Also makes me want to log all my runs from now on until I can't run any more. Nerd, I know... but I wonder what the total distance will be?!
Now I want more. I know I'm a gadget freak but I absolutely love Nike+. It's such great motivation for keeping on going. Kind of makes you want to keep on going only to find out when the next congratulation will be. Also makes me want to log all my runs from now on until I can't run any more. Nerd, I know... but I wonder what the total distance will be?!
Monday 3 March 2008
Feeling optimistic
Ran about 23km (14.3 miles) out in Skrylle in Sweden yesterday. Meant to run 18 miles but my knees and right leg weren’t too happy and considering my problems earlier on last week I didn’t want to push it. The pain was partly due to that I started out with the 10k route which turned out to be pretty hilly, which wasn’t at all to the liking of my knees. Not a good strategy either to start out that hard when you’ve got a wee bit longer to go so I’m definitely saving that one for last next time I’m home in Sweden. My leg muscles are actually soar today, something I haven’t experienced in months. Definitely the hills’ fault.
Very happy with my run though. Did the equivalent of half a marathon in less than two hours without feeling absolutely nackered afterwards so if only my knees and right leg can behave a bit better, I should be ok on the 13th April. Time went by so quickly yesterday that I was a bit unsure of if I’d actually had run the 23km and been out there for 2 hours, but looking at the watch and adding the routes up, plus checking my Nike+ assured me that I had. Amazing how a 2 hour run is starting to feel short.
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