Hip, Hop, Run a Jumble of Words

Having skilfully avoided writing a blog about the usual highlights of 2012 and the inevitable bucket list for 2013, well no skill really I just chose not to.

 I thought it was prime time to jumble a few words together.

OK here it is I AM BACK RUNING, I felt like shouting that bit as it really is a feel good factor.

Yes yes I know your wanting to know when my next Ultra is and what distance well actually when I say I am running again……

It’s only shorty little is it worth getting the kit on type runs and actually when I say runs well its running to me. If viewed from afar it’s a shuffle with a hop skip and a….. well more shuffling really. The hop and the skip are in there as I am so excited to be running again. There I said it again I wonder how many times I can get away with saying I am back Running in one entry…

So how can this be possible you might ask after my last entry where I actually hated running and frankly was a little scared of it. Simple really if running defines who you are then how can you walk away from it? By the same token if Ultra running IS who you are then equally how can you walk away? That said I really don’t have any plans to run an ultra soon, really I don’t….. How do you quantify soon well I haven’t decided that one yet.

Ok some facts:-

 Here are my medical facts:-

From when I first picked up my injury in Feb 2011 to basically yesterday when I had my results back from my latest MRI scan.

Feb 2011 – had right groin pain during a long training run (36miles).

Rested it for 2 weeks or so and it seemed fine.

Early March went and ran ULTRArace Grantham Day 1 just shy of 30miles a nice quick course I ran well no pain and placed well.

Continued training as planned with no pain.

May 2011 – Completed GUCR having a great experience. Obviously I was in pain at the end but I assumed it was muscle fatigue as is the norm in races of this length.
Tried 3 recovery runs of around 5miles or so in the next 3 weeks and they hurt like hell.

June 2011 – DNF’d on ULTRArace 100 at 32miles in lots of AB pain.
Gave myself a break through July to see if the injury would shift, it did not get better but got no worse. The Physio said if I could cope with the pain then running was fine.

Oct 2011 – Ran 2 day JOGLE tester 90 plus miles had no pain issues.
Then from Dec 2011 to June 2012 did not complete a run without some groin
pain of varying degrees. Within that time I completed the Capital Ring 80 miles, and various training and buddy runs of 20 – 50 miles.

In June 2012 I DNF’d yet again on the ULTRArace 100 this time I managed to get to 65miles. Went to hospitial due to having got Rhabdomyolysis (see previous post).

From that point until December I ran a handful of times and most of them ended up hurting.

 

So Yesterday I had the results of an MRI scan I had a week ago….

Scan – showed evidence of a healing stress fracture in the right
inferior pubic ramus (hip).

Doctor’s diagnosis - was I developed the fracture either in Feb 2011 but
most likely during the GUCRMay 2011. As it went un-diagnosed despite numerous doctors & physio appts, and I kept on running, the surrounding muscles overcompensated for the injury causing them to become inflamed. These then started to breakdown culminating in the perfect storm of events to develop in to Rhabdomyolysis.

She said if my then GP had asked for a simple x-ray in July 2011 it would have shown up. The physio appts could well have flagged it especially when they diagnosed pelvic misalignment. At the very least they should have said no running. All of them said if the pain was manageable then it was ok to run.

 

I am not knocking the NHS as a whole (can’t anyway my girlfriend is part of this great establishment) to be fair I do think they do a fantastic job. I think my case does highlight the simple failing in the system when you are seen by lots of different departments in different building and hospitals. The communication can be somewhat lax and this can lead to misdiagnosis or a case of just being left to your own devices.

 

That said I am over the moon I have finally been given a diagnosis that makes sense and when I look back over my training notes etc all the little pieces of the puzzle seem to fit together. This means that it is likely that I have run over 3000 miles with a stress fracture in my hip. I believe that I have been lucky that I have not done any more damage, well apart from having a life threatening (Docs words not mine) illness.

 

Well my Running plan for now

I started running again (that’s 5 if you’re not counting) early December. I am doing 3 runs a week total mileage per week does not exceed 25miles.

My plan is to introduce more cycling and swimming and no I do not have plans to migrate to the other side of the tracks, I am merely using them for cross training purposes. One thought is go for a long bike ride and then run the next day on tired legs, there by feeding the endurance junkie side but keeping the impact levels to a minimum whilst training.

What am I going to train for you might ask, well nothing really I just want the consistency back of running regular. 2013 for me will be about getting some form of endurance back so we will see where that takes me.

I do know that I need to watch my running with great care and try to keep the impact of running to minimum. I guess that means I need to plan carefully in the future which races I choose to do and allow plenty of time to recover from them, something I have failed to do in the past…..

I am back running, I am back running, I am back running, I need to quit this post now……