Are those my feet?

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16th March - 22nd March
Monday: 3.04 miles @ 10:01
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 3.1 miles easy @10:00
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 3.02 miles easy @10:00
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 3.05 miles easy @9:58

23rd March - 29th March
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3.1 miles easy @10:00
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 3.06 miles easy @10:02
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 3.05 miles easy @10:01
Sunday: Rest

Now I'm getting frustrated. The injury is just not clearing up sufficiently that I'm happy with it. In the middle of last week I was very optimistic that it was nearly there, but then on Saturday's run the ankle didn't feel great at all. It can be fine for the majority of a run, but there's still something lingering. I did another 3 miles today, but I'm going to take the rest of this week off to see if extra rest helps - might try a run at the weekend. Physio closed for the forseeable due to covid-19.

On the plus side, I did 3 miles every second day in March, so my strava graph for the month is nice and symmetrical. I also managed to keep each of those runs at 10 mins/mile, +/-2 seconds - the patheticness of this "achievement" is not lost on me

I've been working from home for the past couple of weeks, which has been good, although pretty tiring tyring to juggle child-minding and work! I look forward to each run, but lately I've just been coming back frustrated that the injury is not shifting, so hopefully an extra rest will do some good. I'd love to sign up for the Boards 5k TT, but I'll hold tough as there's no point getting invested in it if I'll be in no condition to put forth a hard effort - not that I'd be troubling the front-runners anyway

Anyway, apologies for the downbeat post - I do realise that there are bigger problems in the world right now than my running woes, but still I felt it was worth logging my current feelings as it can't always be sunshine and PB's. This is my first real setback since I've been running, so hopefully I'll look back on this period later in the year and appreciate what it means to be able to log 40+ mile weeks again.

Three weeks since my last update. Took 10 or so days off from running, and started doing a bit of yoga. I've kept at they yoga, and improved considerably at some of the poses since the first session. Nice to see some progress somewhere.

After the 10 day break, I resumed running with 3 miles every second or third day. As before, the injury feels like it's 95% better, but it's just not fully clearing. Can't believe it's been almost 3 months of this. Looking back on my strava comments I've felt like it's been on the cusp of being 100% for about 2 months now, but it's just not getting there. A frustrated google of posterior tibial injuries last night scared the sh!t out of me, so I rang the physio this morning. They are partially re-opening in a couple of weeks, so I've booked an appointment. In the meantime, no running for 7 days, lots of foam rolling and stretching of the calves, golf ball under the foot, icing. I'm to try a couple of short runs prior to the appointment to see how they feel. Depending on what the physio thinks when I'm there, I might be referred for an MRI .

I signed up for the 1 mile TT in some idiotic moment of hope - I'll have to withdraw from that anyway. I'll keep at the yoga, but I might cherry pick the bits I do because I felt some were putting pressure on the ankle. Might add in some S&C stuff that doesn't affect the ankle. I think I'll buy an exercise bike too. It's funny, I've felt genuinely, perhaps naively, optimistic about this injury all the way through, except the days I decide to update my log :pac:

So, I went for an MRI on the bothersome foot last week and received the results yesterday. The news is positive.

There is no stress fracture, but I do have "mild tenosynovitis of FHL at the knot of Henry" - no need to explain that one obviously :pac:. Basically it's an irritation of the tendon around the arch of my foot, I think. It's apparently an injury more common to dancers - serves me right for trying ballet as cross-training .

Anyway, I've spoken to the physio and she says this is good news. Not ideal, obviously, but not terminal to my running "career" either. It's something that I'll have to manage for the next few months - it might take another 3-4 months to clear completely. But, I can do some running in the meantime - to a max of 10k at a time. I'll have to tape the foot before each run, and ice after, as well as plenty strengthening exercises.

I've only spoken to the physio over the phone, so will get further clarity on the frequency of running and how we are going to treat the injury when I've my next appointment, which is next week. In the meantime, I can dust off the running shoes and hit the roads

ariana` wrote: »

Yay delighted to hear this... well not the knot of Henry part but the rest, sounds quite positive! Enjoy dusting off the runners A, you've been very patient, I hope the road ahead will be kind to you.

Thanks E! Still a long way until I'm 100% but hopefully things are finally moving in the right direction, and it's a relief to know I'm fixable! Felt great to get out for a couple of miles this evening.

A 3 mile run today rounds off my running for July, so I may as well update the ol' log. It's been a positive month on the running front. The foot injury is progressing and has improved a good deal over recent weeks. I had another physio visit two weeks ago and she was very happy with how it's progressing. Crab walks were added to planks, bridges and clams in my (almost) daily strengthening regime.

I've built the weekly mileage up very gradually to where I am now at a whopping 17 miles per week. It's slow progress, but I'll happily take it. To be honest, I don't think the foot can handle much more anyway. I found it was a bit sorer after longer runs (6 miles) so I decided this week to try keep the runs shorter and instead add a fifth day to maintain the mileage. I will see how that goes, although it did mean that this week saw my first 3-day running streak in forever! Rest day tomorrow ! On a related note, the amount of time spent deciding whether I'll run 3 miles Tuesday and 4 miles Wednesday, or vice versa, is quite embarrassing. Or at least should be :pac:

I haven't been paying much attention to pace on any of the runs - effort generally feels in the easy to moderate range. Crazy how 6 miles can be such a slog when not long ago it would have been a gentle recovery trot :eek:. The fitness will come back though - the 3 mile runs are feeling much easier than they were a few weeks ago.

Use of the exercise bike has dropped off a cliff. The last two times I used it I had a bit of knee pain after which took a day or two to shift - the physio put it down to a tight quad. I just fell out of the habit then but I must try and get back at it soon - maybe tomorrow! The odd niggle has popped up here and there over the past few weeks - a very tender hamstring was a worry for a day or two but soon abated. I'm putting these niggles down to the boday getting used to regular running again.

Now that things are trending in the right direction, I'll update the mileage table:
Month|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020
January|21|5|51|131|178
February|19||51|119|91
March|27||62|112|46
April|3||55|142|20
May|1|18|74|120|19
June|2|38|96|135|35
July||33|129|175|72
August||49|137|184
September|1|25|179|211
October|4|42|131|162
November|6|40|34|70
December||51|84|153
Total (mi)|83|301|1083|1714|461


Hopefully I'll reach 1,000 miles for the year, but it's not a target I'm going to chase. If all goes well then I might just sneak 100 miles in August, but I won't be afraid to take a step back if required.

Lambay island wrote: »

Nice to see your progress. You have showed great patience.

Cheers D. Yeah, the patience has been tested for sure... I'm glad I didn't know at the outset how long it would take for things to begin to come right. What I've really missed is the routine of running most days and also long runs... god, how I've missed long runs!!! 2+ hours out on the roads - bliss . Still, there's bigger problems in the world! It has been great to be able to get some regularity back into the running routine of late, and as the distances have crept up it's been nice to rediscover roads I've not seen in a while. I do try to focus on the positive and "enjoy" the process of recovery, as frustrating as it is!

*** Blows the cobwebs off ***

Six months since my last update - this log took a bit of finding!

To catch up - around the end of November I developed another injury to go along with my long-term foot injury. This second injury turned out to be a prepatellar bursitis - basically a pocket of fluid on the front of the knee. I don't exaggerate when I say this thing was massive. It took over six weeks before eventually disappearing of it's own accord. But, such was the size of the thing I was advised not to run, and also sent for an x-ray (all-clear) and then an MRI. The MRI revealed what looked like a meniscus tear, but a subsequent visit to a consultant advised that the knee was fine, apart from the normal wear and tear you'd expect, especially in a runner. Between the bursitis first surfacing and the subsequent waiting on appointments etc, it was almost exactly three months of no running (or any activity tbh), but mercifullly I was finally given the green light to resume running in late February.

Meanwhile, my original foot injury (tenosynovitis of the FHL at the knot of Henry, for those struggling to keep track ) was no better, despite three months rest. This injury is on the opposite leg to the knee bursitis, btw. So anyway, with it being 12 months at this stage since the foot injury first surfaced, the physio advised orthotics. Basically, the arch on my right foot is very flat, and when I land the tendons in my foot are not happy, and causing the pain. I've done the world of bridges, planks, clams, crabs etc over the past year to try and get stronger and alleviate the impact on the tendons, and while I can see improvements, it's not been enough to clear the injury, so orthotics were the next step.

I've had the orthotics for almost a month now, and they are going pretty well. Started off with walking and then trying them on a short run here and there. Felt very, very weird at first, but gradually I've gotten used to them. Still not happy to run more than 3-4 miles in them as I can feel a blister wanting to form, so anything longer than that I have not used them yet, but I am using them more frequently in my runs and wearing them for the majority of the day when I'm not running.

At this stage I would run in wellies if I thought it would help. Hopefully these do the trick anyway. So far I'm very happy with them, aside from the blisters. I've always felt ploddy and laboured in my running style, but with these I feel much more smoother - could be just confirmation bias of course. Most importantly the foot injury feels a great deal better - still an occassional peep out of it, but it's a lot better over the past month.

Aside from running, I've started doing a bit of walking. It started as a way to break in the orthotics, but I've found I enjoy it. Not that I'm doing loads or anything - usually just 20-30 minutes on my non-running days. I find it great to clear the head, either before work or at lunch. I managed to rack up 27.9 walking miles in March - not that impressive on the face of it, but every little helps. I've also done the odd spin on the exercise bike, but I struggle with the motivation there. The main draw is that I've started re-watching The Soprano's while on the bike. Currently halfway through the first season - what a show.

Running wise I managed to rack up 49.8 miles in March, mainly 3 or so miles every second day. I'll continue to take it handy in April as and I hopefully get fully comfortable with the orthotics I will start doing consecutive days and slightly longer runs. After 3 months off my fitness was in my boots the first few runs back, but even the few miles I've done in March made a bit of a difference - I no longer get a stitch after a mile-and-a-half! Hopefully this won't be a false dawn and the progress will continue from here.

Sorbet wrote: »

Delighted to see you are on the mend. For what it's worth; when I got Othotics (due to flat feet that I never knew about) I developed serious blisters on the arches of both feet. Felt a bit down about it as it felt like I'd never get back to running and thought the "solution" wasn't going to work. It totally worked and the arches just toughened up a bit. I only use the orthotics when running but it would feel really weird to run without them. You'll get used to them. Best of luck.

Thanks for that feedback, it was reassuring to hear of some positive orthotic experiences from yourself and others on strava. The physio did warn me to expect blisters, and it is taking longer and longer into a run for me to feel one, so I'm sure they will become a non-factor in time.

Laineyfrecks wrote: »

Great to see you back A

Thanks E. It's good to be pointed in the right direction, finally

eyrie wrote: »

Great stuff, super to see the comeback. You have some incredible patience!
We re-watched the Sopranos last year - just as brilliant second time around.

Cheers C, yeah I'm really enjoying The Sopranos. I would have watched it all through the first time round, but only dipped into an odd episode here and there since, so it's great re-starting from the beginning. The Wire would be my all-time favourite TV show, but we will see if that changes after this.

tbukela wrote: »

Great to see you back out running again, stick with the patient approach and you'll continue to progress. At least you haven't missed any races!

Thanks T. Yeah, I'll keep any mileage increases gradual for now. Had to reign myself in a bit this week - was eager to do a bit more but I'll try and keep a lid on things for a few more weeks. At least there is no temptation to rush things for the sake of some race. I hope your own niggles/injuries are clearing up?

Huzzah! wrote: »

Sopranos surely trumps The Wire?

Great to see you back running and the log revived. Glad the meniscus turned out to be plain-old wear and tear, too.

The Wire has always been #1 for me E - I've watched it through many times and know it inside and out at this stage. I just wouldn't have the same familiarity with The Sopranos, yet...

Yeah, for a while there I was worried that my body was a wreck not suited to running, so I was mightily relieved when I was told that the knee was fine!

Short and sweet update this month.

April was a good month, with 85 miles ran, and progress made to 5 days per week. Most importantly, the troublesome foot continues to behave itself. There has been the odd twinge with it now and then, but I've found that if I wear the orthotics near constantly then it's fine. There has been a few other niggles (knee, calf) as the body gets used to running again, but nothing major. The blistering issues I was experiencing with the orthotics have eased a good bit too - not quite 100% yet, but getting there.

I'm really enjoying the running at the moment - looking forward to each run and seeing some progress. I've not been paying too much attention to pace - most runs have ended up at what feels like a moderate/steady effort. As the mileage increases I'll start paying more attention there.

For May it will be more of the same - 5 runs a week, gradually increasing the mileage. I might add a few strides here and there towards the end of the month, and all going well I should top 100 miles for May. Slow, steady progress. And DPD are dropping off a pair of Novablast's this afternoon - looking forward to trying those out.

May was another positive month, with last night's run taking me over the 100 mile mark for the first month since January of last year. A bit of a dose kept me out of action for a few days last week, but other than that it was a very solid month. The highlight was a 9 mile long run the weekend before last - this was just a lovely run which felt smooth and comfortable and hinted at fitness returning.

Bar one set of strides, everything was easy pace in May, so for June I plan to add a little more work (strides, an endurance run or two, that 50 min mix grads plan run). I'll keep the volume at around 30 miles per week across 5 days. I'd hope to kick off a base plan then in July. I've been thinking about a 5k TT towards the end of June but might just leave it altogether. We shall see.

I was very sceptical of the Novablasts at first - they felt unsteady or something. But I've found they are growing on me the more I wear them. They don't offer too much protection from the water though, so I'll keep them for dry days, which have thankfully finally arrived!

The niggles have subsided and the foot continues to play ball for the most part. I'm still super aware of it, and it complains now and then, but nothing too bad. The physio has added some single leg balancing exercises to my regime. I have noticed my cadence is almost 10 points higher compared to similar paced runs pre-injury. Not sure if it's the shoes, the ortothics, more core strength, or just the watch messing me about, but I definitely do feel smoother than before.

Thanks for reading

ReeReeG wrote: »

Great update! Delighted your incredible patience has been paying off, must be a relief too.

Thanks V. It's just great to be able to enjoy a run without worrying about the foot. The injury sucked all the enjoyment out of running - I'd spend all day looking forward to a run, only to end up frustrated with myself and the injury by the end of the run. Hard going after a while. Hopefully things remain on track from here.

Glad to see you on the road back too, nice patience on show there too.