We Must First Learn To Crawl

This has been the longest gap in this blog since its inception, by quite some margin. If you're still here to read this, congratulations!

The reason why I didn't post anything is the fact that this is a running blog and I had not been running. I did not want to post a constant stream of updates in the shape of:

"Not running"

"Still not running"

"No running yet"

"No running still"

And son on. Now, finally, I do have a bit of a better update:

"Running a tiny little bit!"

Admittedly, it's not the most amazing of news, but after more than 3 weeks of no running it was never going to anything but a small amount of miles, very slowly, and not feeling particularly great.

My hip started to feel much better about a week ago and I was just about to hit the road for a first test run last Saturday when I caught some virus that had me confined to bed for the weekend, aching all over the body and feeling very sorry for myself. I was mostly recovered by Monday (great! no need to miss work!) but still not back to my most energetic self, so I waited until Thursday before finally heading out, coinciding with a short break at some swanky hotel.

I ran for about 3 miles, a bit longer than planned but I got lost on the way home and had to find my way around the twisty little passages, all alike. The biggest disappointment was not the slow pace but the fact that as soon as I took my first running step I immediately felt my hip again, which had been completely fine for the last 10-ish days. Still, it was a lot better than before my break, I was not hobbling, and after a mile or 2 I was ok, though somehow every step felt awkward and uncoordinated, due to the long break.

I was fine for the rest of the day but to my great dismay I felt the hip again on Friday morning, so I took yet another off day, and ran again on Saturday, but only for about half the distance (it was enough to have me knackered nevertheless).

This is undoubtedly going to be a slow process, but I have no race goals whatsoever, and I'll take it just as it comes.

The next update won't be so long in coming, promise!

21 Feb

3.2 miles, 30:18, 9:29 pace, HR 141

23 Feb

1.73 miles, 17:13, 9:57 pace, Hr 140

Out Of Commission

I was running back home from work on Monday evening, just like I do basically every Monday evening, and just as I passed Shanganagh Park my left foot got caught in some uneven pavement and I very nearly went flying again, at EXACTLY the same spot where I had fallen exactly two weeks earlier, and probably tripped up by the same thing again, whatever it was.

It was at that point that I realised that I had my fall on Monday and the hip had started hurting on Wednesday, 2 (well, 1.5) days later. Coincidence? Possibly, but very unlikely. When I had that fall I thought all it cost me was a fair amount of skin on my knees (which is still missing) but I guess there was some more serious reaction further up the kinetic chain.

Anyway, I made my way back home and went on with the rest of the evening. In fact, my hip had felt much better that day, so much so that I thought I had left most of that episode behind me.

Alas, when I woke up on Tuesday morning I knew immediately that something was off, but stubborn as I am still went ahead with getting ready to run into work. But when I started "running" it became clear very quickly that it was a non-starter. I got as far as the end of the driveway before conceding defeat, walking back home, and accepting that I had to stop running until this was genuinely better.

And with that, I'm officially on the injured list.

Not running didn't provide any immediate improvement, that is for sure. In fact, Thursday was the first day since the whole thing started that I actually felt in pain, up to then it was merely stiff and maybe a bit uncomfortable when I made the wrong movement. Friday was much better again, so much so that I thought maybe I'll be able to start running again soon, but I definitely felt awkward again on Saturday, so that's a no.

How long this will take isn't quite clear. I am away most of next week for work, and if I'm still laid low by then I'll go and see a physio. Doneadea is less than a week from now, and it's not going to happen for me, which is a real shame, it's one of the very best races in Ireland and I hate to miss it.

28 Jan

10.25 miles, 1:30:06, 8:47 pace, HR 138