Injury, Frustration and Hope

My training this year has become a bit repetitive:

1. Injury
2. Rest
3. Gentle recovery
4. Tentative runs
5. More confidence
6. Longer gentle runs
7. Good period of runs - getting back up to full fitness, and approaching the amount of running I want to do to be ready for the OMM
8. Out of the blue... go to 1

I am currently at stage 3 of the latest cycle. I was running a few weeks ago, in stage 7 after a calf strain in the bottom of my right calf. I'd been taking care of my right leg, nursing it back up to full strength, and it felt good to be out running properly again.  I was about 5 miles into an 8 mile run, slow, no steep hills, when I felt a sudden pain in the middle of my left calf. I stopped immediately, knowing these days that it wasn't the sort of pain that was going to go away in a few hundred yards. Reluctantly, but knowing it was for the best, I walked the 2 miles home, my calf hurting at every step.

Left calf? I hadn't had any problem in my left leg for two years. Why now? 12 weeks before the OMM? I did the usual things. Rest. Ice. Gentle stretching. And after a couple of weeks  it seemed to get better. So I tried a short run. (When I say short, I mean short! 20 yards!). All ok.  A couple of days later we did 200 yards. Still ok. More rest. More stretches. I did a mile. Still good.  I was hopeful! We seemed to be at Stage 5. A couple of miles the week before I went on holiday in Devon. All good. Until day 2 of the holiday. Gorgeous day on the huge flat beach.  But I had lost where the children were, and was trying to find them to take their bags before they went in the sea.  I jogged across the beach to the surf shop, but they weren't there, so I jogged back to find Pete. Big mistake. Barefoot jogging? On a strained calf? Idiot.

I spent the next 2 hours in the sea, and by the time I came out my leg was as bad as ever. I'd been really looking forward to some good training runs with Pete. Along the coastal path to Clovelly. Round the Burrows. But it wasn't to be.

When we got home I rested for a bit, but getting frustrated I called an expert. Michaela.

It has started to become an unfortunate tradition that I end up going to see Michaela a couple of months before each OMM, so she can sort out a leg problem. She prodded and squeezed and recognised the problem - the muscle sheath had adhered to the scar tissue, and was causing stress and tearing when the muscle worked. Her treatment was simple and quick. She stuck an acupuncture needle into the centre of the area and I felt an immediate heaviness and bruising, but the pain when I stretched the muscle was almost completely gone.

Michaela recommended lots of stretching for the first few days, and then calf lifts (3 x 15 on each foot, 3 times a day) to strengthen the calf muscles. She thought I would probably be able to run again in a week or so, as long as the pain had gone enough that I could hop around the room without pain.

So far so good.  I am on day 4, and have just started the lifts.  There was quite a dramatic change yesterday.  I did my exercises during the day, and afterwards there was a bit of lingering pain in the injured area.  But when I stretched it out, the pain suddenly went, and the muscle suddenly felt different, more solid. No pan since, so I am hopeful!

Watch this space.  I intend to stay in stage 7 for a long time. At least for the 7 weeks I have left until the OMM.