Cool runnings

13th onwards

Yada yada yada. You don't care. I definitely don't care. Let's cut to the chase, shall we?


16TH SEPTEMBER

BERLIN MARATHON 2018

Passing the line I am astounded by how tired and sore I feel. The Brandenburg Gate is dead ahead. What is going on? I make a turn on Unter den Linden and enter a warren of anonymous city centre streets. Barely started and I find myself distracted by a sign that says BEER STOP. Would this be real beer? My curiosity wins out. IT IS REAL BEER. Only half of a small plastic cup, but still. I’m confounded by my physical condition meanwhile. But could it be a good sign? If I feel this bad now, how can it get worse? It might just as well get better. Press on then. But why are my hips, glutes and hamstrings so tight and sore? My mile times are ridiculously slow. 11 minutes? What the hell is going on? Just keep going. What else is there to do?

Miles pass. They are either ludicrously slow, or just slow. This could be the biggest negative split ever: or else I just won’t finish. Not as in DNF, but just endlessly slowing, and never arriving, like Zeno’s Paradox. At mile 18 I enter a portaloo I do not need and observe a trickle of wee the colour of Ribena. Is it too early - or late - for that level of dehydration? Then as I laboriously approach the halfway point I conclude a succession of brief stops which exclusively feature me: stretching my hammers, and not: just walking, exhausted. Because I’m not exhausted, am I? No, there’s just something wrong with my legs. I’m barely breathing, but my body just won’t do what it’s told.

Ok, here’s halfway now, surely there’s some good news on the other side. And there, like magic! A water bottle flies up and into my hand. Just what I need. I spit a mixture of water, salts, magnesium etc into it and soon there’s a hint of lightness in the legs. If I repeat this every mile, who knows how this will go? I check the watch. Holy Mother Pearl, I’m back running sub-8 minute miles. HELLO, SPORTS FANS. Can I keep this going? Freshness seems to be pouring into my legs. My breathing is relaxing, the aches in my legs are gone. Suddenly, with 6 miles to go, I’m fizzing along at 3:15 pace. If only I could have begun like this! And now what? Another change of gear sees me hitting 3:10 pace. Not long to go now. This has been a rollercoaster.

Although, to be fair, everything has been just about perfect: even the weather played ball, starting at 20℃, but diving down to about 15℃ at this point. I’m getting stronger and stronger. I don’t know if I’ve ever run like this before. Berlin’s interminable straight streets have finally given way to the park, and now the Victory statue is looming. Can’t believe how fluently I’m running - it’s like I just started. Round the golden lady and it’s a ruler-straight rush to the conclusion. But the crowds! Godammit, all of a sudden there’s fecking thousands of runners around me. How did that happen? At the beginning it was absolutely fine, but it’s just gotten more and more congested as we’ve gone on. Anyway, who cares. I can see the Brandenburg Gate. We don’t run through it this time, but that’s fine. I’m positively humming along now, must be close to 7 minute pace. Oh, I’m crossing the line! Looks like I’ve run 3:40 or so. Fantastic, considering my pace early on. I discover a disconcertingly heavy medal around my neck. Has that been there all along? Blimmin’ heck. I hand it off to an obliging volunteer, then find a discarded running top by the side of the road. Funny, it looks like one of mine. I put it on, then decide to go back to my hotel and go to sleep. It’s really very bloody early.

17th-23rd

No running.

Monday 24th

Back-on-the-horse run. A little too quick, because I'm full of righteous indignation following last week's events. So I'm probably trying to make a point: but I do feel kinda fresh.

7.13@8.14

HR 135/150

Tuesday 25th

Club group run. We've become fragmented of late, so this is an initiative aimed at reversing that: a monthly session for all club members. A hill session was a bit of a novelty after all the flat Berlin training, but I was quite pleased that I stayed the course: 6 reps on the climb near the monument in Tymon, where the M50 meets the bypass. The marathon fallout is quite evident in the HR stats. Even if I do still feel sorta fresh.

5.2@8.39

HR 128/174

Wednesday 26th

Very easy short run.

4.17@9.29

HR 113

Thursday 27th

No running

Friday 28th

Feeling fresh again. Did I mention I've been feeling strangely fresh all week? But I'm not contemplating anything silly, like running Dublin. No no no.

8.11@8.20

HR 128/140

Saturday 29th

Long(ish) run. Can feel the fatigue after about 8 miles. Been this way all week, in fact. Initially bouncy, but an underlying weariness that sets in after a while. At the very end get caught at traffic lights in Tallaght village, and run the last half-mile quite hard to catch my companions. It feels rough. Still recovering, then. Contemplating doing something silly, though: like running Dublin.


12.15@8.42

HR 127/153

Sunday 30th

No running.


Week's mileage 38

Murph_D wrote: »

And whatever you do don't start in Merrion Square.

Well, I'm glad someone noticed.

Monday 8th

Easy short run.

4.01@8.42

HR 123/141

Tuesday 9th

Session. 7x800m @6.40 pace, with 90 secs jog recovery. Had completed 4 of these and was blowing quite hard, then suffered stomach-ache and had to go off to the bushes. Finished them out after, but noted the effect of the effort. Hopefully I can adjust for Friday's session. Had a slight cold the other week, which left me with a scratchy cough and a phlegmy throat in the mornings. Been mulling over the notion of seeing the doctor re: possible hydration issues in Berlin, my haemoglobin count of 11.2 at the blood bank (donation refused - minimum level required 13.5), and this annoying cough. Eventually decided I knew myself well enough that a course of Pharmaton would correct the iron issue, and the cough would come down to a question of: antibiotics, or nothing, and let it take its course. Anti-b's will have a weakening effect, so I'll let it sort itself out. Nearly 3 weeks still to go, after all.

6.35, 6.23, 6.37, 6.34, 6.39, 6.20

HR 141/163

Wednesday 10th

Very easy run.

7.01@9.09

HR 115/134

Thursday 11th

No running

Friday 12th

Session. 3,2,1 miles @7.10 per mile. 3 minute jog recoveries. DBL as per usual. Quite a nasty headwind on the very slightly uphill side. Hit my straps overall, but the 2 mile section was just a little slow. Didn't feel as though I was slowing down, so I put it down to just ordinary tiredness stemming from the increased demands this week.

7.00, 7.05, 7.09
7.17, 7.19
6.55

Recoveries @9.00

HR 140/164

Saturday 13th

Easy run. Met up with club long run group doing 18.

7.01@8.24

HR 134/149

Sunday 14th

14 mile run. Decided on the waterworks/duck loop, for a bit of much-needed elevation, after all the flat Berlin training. Feeling good. Roll on the 2nd taper of the year!

14.01@8.06

HR 137/155

Week's mileage 51

October-present

A brief update. DCM didn't go particularly well in the end; very much the same as Berlin, in fact, including the time of 3:41.

After that there wasn't much motivation to do anything really, and in the end I decided not to take on any more races or do any sessions before Christmas. I've been lucky enough to have many years of virtually injury-free running, but a corollary effect seemed to have been that I had gotten a bit stale, or overworked, or something. In any case I felt that I needed a break, a re-set, something that might restore me to factory settings, as it were. So I determined to chug along until the new year, then put some changes into effect and try and crank things back up again.

All was well, until the 17th December, nearly a month ago now! I was finishing out an easy 5 miler when a pain struck on the inside of my right knee. It wasn't so bad, and I kept running, but then it just got suddenly worse. I had to stop and walk back to the house.

A visit to the muscular therapist, and we had a tentative diagnosis of an MCL problem. Not a tear, but inflammation or, something. The prognosis was hopeful - couple of days out, maybe more, take it easy meantime. I should feel some relief, and could expect significant improvement in a day or two.

Back home, though, and that's not how it felt. It seemed to have swollen back up again straight after the treatment. Therapist recommended an MRI, so a visit to the doctor ensued. After that a trip to Affidea for the scan. Never realised those bloody things were so loud.

A week later, back to the doctor, for the bad news. A Baker's cyst, probably leaking/ruptured. An old fracture somewhere. Major cartilage degeneration resulting in bone-on-bone. At least one, probably 2, tears in the meniscus. And on and on. I was asked how the hell I had managed any running in the first place. The words 'cycling' and 'swimming' were mentioned.

So, now I'm waiting to hear back about an appointment with an orthopaedic specialist. I'll need an arthoscopy (keyhole knee clean-out job) at a minimum, and I don't know if I'll get to run again.

Appointment on Wednesday up in Belfast.

Wednesday 8th May

A further update: 8 weeks on from the op, and, not much has changed, really. I finally got around to consulting with a professional regarding some sort of S&C programme, and I'm into the second week of it. I'm being asked not to run, not until I've completed most or all of a 6 week plan, involving exercises and the gym cross-trainer. The goal is to make sure that when and if I do attempt to run again, everything will be in balance, and my calves, quads, glutes and hammers will all be taking their proper share of the load.

It's even proposed that I try to alter my running style, so that my legendary massive left-heel-strike is, well, not eliminated, but certainly reduced. The odd run I have managed here and there (one 4 miler, three one milers) have only underlined the massive fall-off in aerobic capacity. I'm running 10 minute miles, and wondering how I ever ran quicker.

As to the joint itself, there is still quite extensive swelling around the top of the knee, and of course the Baker's cyst, which is basically untreatable, causes swelling at the back. I think I have been guilty of waiting for it to 'get better' on its own, rather than putting in work to make sure that the range of movement is restored as much as is possible. If I do nothing, it will just stay this way - stiff and swollen.

More exciting updates as they happen!