Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh

Much of what I do in life, whether running or otherwise, is based on trial and error and some things just don't change. The hip had been feeling pretty good for at least a week, so when I felt it was time to try running the 10 miles to work again last Wednesday, it seemed a perfectly reasonable idea.

It fit well within my real-life schedule as I had to take public transport home that evening anyway, and running to work meant I didn't have to leave the bike in overnight. To be honest, I was far more apprehensive about how the legs would cope than the hip. The fact that it was a very windy day and I had to battle a fairly brutal headwind for the entire stretch - at times I wondered if I would ever get there - made it only tougher, so I was actually pleasantly surprised by the fact that I still had plenty of energy left when I got there. Alas, the hip didn't like it at all. In fact, I had felt it even before the run but wondered if that was purely psychological, caused by being a bit anxious about the run. But no, for the rest of the day, actually the rest of the week, I felt it again, and that was a real setback.

It's difficult to describe what it actually feels like. It doesn't hurt as such. It's not even a real discomfort. It just feels - weird. A very dull ache, not really how I would expect an injury to feel like. When I start running my hip feels a bit stiff, though not exactly what actual stiffness feels like ... I told you it's hard to describe.

So I had to take a step back again. I didn't run on Thursday, and only for a few miles on Friday. On Saturday morning I had to head down towards town where Niamh had left the car on her night out, and retrieve it before she got a parking ticket. I took the scenic route for about 4.5 miles, and by some miracle when I was done the hip suddenly felt perfectly fine again. Something very similar had happened a week or two earlier, I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but as far as I can tell a short run is better than complete rest, and a longer run is bad. I just have to figure out where the limit between the short and the long run lies - and of course that is a moving target.

Apart from all that, my hip wasn't actually the worst thing happening to my body this week. I don't know what caused it but I had a pretty bad allergic reaction to something. I had reactions all over my skin, including some brutal looking bright red stripes on my stomach, and my entire body was incredibly itchy, it was really rough for a couple of days. An antihistamine tablet eventually got me over the worst and eventually the big angry stripes started to fade - though I can still see them. It might have been the washing powder (for some inexplicable reason Niamh bought a different one to the usual one) but that's just a guess. I had a very similar episode a few years ago when staying on Valentia Island, and I don't know what the cause was back then either.

But hey, let's move on. Slowly, as is my wont these days.

12 Mar

4.5 miles, 38:34, 8:33 pace, HR 150

13 Mar

10.2 miles, 1:33:53, 9:12 pace, HR 149

15 Mar

4+ miles, 36:14, 8:54 pace, HR 147

16 Mar

4.45 miles, 39:20, 8:50 pace, HR 142

17 Mar

6.3 miles, 54:55, 8:43 pace, HR 146