Since the Berlin marathon I have pretty much done no exercise. This wasn’t me being lazy, I just intentionally fancied a break.
This is pretty much how I spent the whole weekend
I was shattered after the marathon. My legs ached for three days afterwards – which is totally to be expected considering I ran a marathon without having trained further than 13 miles. Don’t ask me how I survived it at all, I have no idea. But I do know that it’s sensible to take a little break now.
I had a little bit of fun with some photo apps…
You might laugh to hear but I’d love to run the Portsmouth Coastal marathon in late December (just a few days before Christmas). I was going to run it last year but due to injury I never got there. I supported Ben running it and really enjoyed the day. Though the weather was atrocious and the scenery is…well it’s Portsmouth, I’m really keen to do it. It’s a local marathon, under 1000 runners and it’s a bit off-road (there’s a cut off time due to the tide coming in!). It’s only 10 weeks away, but I reckon I have some good fitness behind me now.
I’ll be starting my coaching from Kyle next week and he knows I’m keen to run it but he’s already advised that I should use at a training run in preparation for my goal marathon (London). Whatever a ‘training marathon’ is! Basically, I have no time intentions – I’m quite happy to plod (a relative term!) round slower than I have done in previous marathons and just tick the miles off. Marathons are my distance, I just love them. I love halves as well as an ‘easier’ option in terms of training and recovery but nothing beats the feeling of finishing a marathon. Perhaps this is because so far I’ve had quite good experiences, who knows.
And an update on Ben…it’s not great news sadly. He had his ultrasound and they found that his tendon, which connects his hamstring and knee, is swollen three times its normal size (he gets a ‘clicking’ sensation which is the tendon going over the bone). The pain is still there and he hasn’t run. The ultrasound specialists did a brilliant job of scaring the hell out of him saying he would never run again without getting injections. However Ben’s physio read the report and told him that that was rubbish. The ultrasound specialists have limited muscular-skeletal knowledge and don’t know all the possible treatments. HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF.
Basically the plan going forward is Ben to take 2-3 weeks of complete rest (no cycling, swimming, running) and ice every single day to reduce the swelling. Then he can start stretching and strengthening and eventually gently running as long as things are improving. Our physio reckons it might be 8 weeks until he can run again. But the take away message is he can and will run again. It might even be sooner. This means he sadly can’t do any races he had planned this year, but it does mean he can do the Brighton marathon next year (hopefully).
We’re both sad and pleased. Pleased that it’s nothing that can’t be solved somehow. If the above treatment doesn’t work then surgery is probably the next road to take. But he will run again. I’m sad though because I wish he could run – and so does he. It’s a big part of who we are and nothing compares in terms of exercise. But we just have to look at the bigger picture. I also need to tone down the amount I go on about running because it’s not very fair of me 🙁
Anyway, that’s us for the moment!
How do you recover from a big race or workout?
How do you deal with bad news?
Have you ever had to have surgery?
