Everybody Hurts (And Plagiarises) Sometimes

Well, this last week has been The Week of the Health Professional (oh, I am SO feeling my age). As I mentioned after my last blog post, I had an appointment with a sports physio the day after the Women's Classic. I don't actually speak physio so a lot of what he said kind of went in one ear and out the other. Fortunately, the lovely Dee is fluent and she can translate - so my hopeful 'something about a tender fashion latte?' quickly became tensor fascia lata.

Basically, the lovely Gerard, my brand new sports physio, gave me a telling off for pushing through the pain and that my 'gutsy marathoner' impersonation was not clever. Dramatic performances are best left for the actual marathon, he said. My knee problem is in fact iliotibial band friction syndrome or ITBFS. The iliotibial band stabilises the knee during running, but the band rubs over some knobbly bit which combined with the flexion and extension of the knee while running can cause the area to become inflamed - and, why yes, I did just plagiarise that from Wikipedia (although 'knobbly bit' is entirely my own work).

And since we're plagiarising, why not just breach copyright as well? Thanks, Wikipedia!

This may well prove to be a bit of an ongoing problem so Gerard thought that a week of hitting it hard (the problem, that is, not the knee) was the way to go. Firstly, NO running, not even walking. Secondly, a week of anti-inflammatories. And thirdly, some stretches to limber up, one of which involves me rolling the outside of my thigh on a blue rubber roller. Ow. I have an appointment with Gerard tomorrow to see if those steps have helped and more importantly, to find out when I can start running again.

My second health professional visit was to the lovely Dr Ric to check on my iron levels. Disastrously low, I should have realised. I'm now on a supplement so strong that I may well set off the metal detectors at the airport but I am feeling much more energetic. So hoorah for iron supplements!

I SO hope that's the end of the medical stuff - and the desperately suppressed fear that I really am too out of condition to do this and that it was truly mad to think that I could. Apologies to 'Wicked' but something has changed within me ... I really, really love to run now and I want to give this marathon my absolute best shot. And I don't want some ill yo-yo titbits band friction syndrome giving me grief.

By the way, here is a blog I can relate to. Jackie, another first-time marathoner in New Zealand is 'Legging it for Louis', a young boy with severe Type 1 diabetes who is in need of expensive equipment in order to better manage his condition. It's hard not to be moved by what Louis has to live with.  I've just donated to her cause and am loving Jackie's blog, especially her 'Running Song of the Day' (which, speaking of plagiarising, I shall totally be incorporating into my blog!). Check out 'Legging it for Louis' here

That's Me in the Corner, Feeling My Humanity

‘Fear makes us feel our humanity.’ ~Benjamin Disraeli

I must admit to feeling my humanity quite a lot at the moment. In fact, I think I might actually be Freaking.Right.Out again. I don't mean to sound like Carrie Bradshaw here but I can't help but wonder ... is this untested 42 year old body really capable of running a marathon?

This morning I ran in the 10km Women's Classic at Burswood. The shins did great but the 42 year old body, more specifically the 42 year old left knee, not so much. Because I was wearing my new Skins, I thought that I wouldn't need my knee supports as well. Wrong. As explained to me by the lovely Dee, the knee supports prevent hyper-extension, the Skins don't. So it was a matter of simple biomechanics - my knees are used to running with the supports and even a minor change changed the way I ran. It didn't take long (3km in fact) for that change to result in some serious pain at the end of my left tensor fasciæ latæ. Ouch.

I was sorely (pardon the pun) tempted to take the 5km route option but couldn't bear to opt out. I managed to keep running at various points but not for very long (mainly through the parts where there were signs warning about snakes) and by 6km, I gave up any attempt as it was too painful. At the 8km point, even walking was getting unbearable but I convinced worried officials that I would be able to make it to the end. By the 9km point everyone had passed me but I got to the end even if I was stone. cold. LAST.

I'm trying not to be too disappointed. Firstly, I did it. This is quite a mental victory because I have never pushed through any sort of pain to complete something before (excepting, quite literally, childbirth - but there really is no 5km option there). I am against discomfort in all its forms but my determination to finish what I started kept me at it. Secondly, even though I walked most of this race and practically hobbled to the end I was still only a few minutes slower that my Around the Bridges time. So I must be getting a bit faster. That's good!



This woman is a physiotherapist so we can't show you her face on this blog

Fortunately, Dee's Physiotherapy is open for emergencies on a Sunday (she'll even make you tea and Nutella on toast!) and she gave me some treatment and stretches to do that will hopefully lengthen those TFL's out and stop them causing problems in the future. As a happy coincidence, I've also got an appointment with a sports physio tomorrow for a musculoskeletal exam just to see what (other) bits of this aforementioned untested body might cause problems as I approach the pointy end of the training. The non-sporty background means this body's injury free but it also means it's an unknown quantity - and I'm going to be asking it to do an awful lot in the next four months!