Cool Running Ramblings : Issue Eleven
Sneezes and Kneeses
Another week nearer the marathon and another week of getting up early for training runs pounding the streets and… well actually that’s not the case at all. I’ve had a silly cough and cold which won’t shift and it’s really knocked the wind out of me. So it’s actually been a week of rolling over, turning off the alarm and falling straight back to sleep. I honestly didn’t realise was what a cruel mistress this marathon would be. Not running this week has left me feeling so guilty, despite the fact that my body was getting all Mary Winehouse and saying “no, no, no”. I once heard that Catholicism is largely based on guilt, well fair play to all the catholics out there if that’s the case as it can’t be easy going through life feeling this bad about yourself all the time!
Well by the time the weekend came around I was feeling a bit better and so my other half and me arranged to visit her folks for Sunday lunch, dropping our daughter Ella off there early so that we could go for a run/cycle beforehand. With Sunday’s run planned I had a very cool Saturday shopping trip in the meantime, I was off to the running shop on my quest for the trainers that would take me to marathon glory so that I had plenty of time to wear them in before the big day.
At the running shop I was duly filmed running up and down the street with my jeans rolled up to my knees and I was sooo glad I had picked a shop right opposite the railway station as Brighton fans were heading off to the match. Having smiled politely at the jeering hoodies by the station it was back inside to review my foot footage. Turns out I may have been running in the wrong trainers all this time and that I now had my pick of shoes suitable for the neutral pronator, which apparently are far more cushioned, yaay! This means that running in my new shoes I can hardly feel the ground and they are much, MUCH more comfortable than my previous “stability” shoes.
So on a damp and dreary St Valentine’s day I donned my shiny new trainers and set off for a romantic jog with my other half cycling along next to me along the Downs Link disused railway line. After a couple of miles I decided that my knee was twingeing a bit and so I strapped it up in a support bandage and carried on. The run was going well, my legs were in good shape, energy levels were high, my lungs were working well and I even managed to reel in and overtake a pretty serious looking runner. But then after about eight and a half miles my knee suddenly started to feel decidedly uncomfortable and in the space of just a hundred yards or so it went from uncomfortable to hurting too much to run on, just as it had done a few weeks before. The difference was that this time it didn’t get any better after ten minutes of walking, if anything the pain was getting worse and my knee just could not support me if I tried to run on it. With a heavy heart I conceded that it was time to ‘phone the troops for a lift home.
So here I am, nine weeks out from the marathon with a gammy knee and not able to train. It’s already much better than it was and I’m hoping that it will calm down enough for me to run in the Sussex Beacons half marathon on Sunday. I’ve also booked a two hour consultation at a specialist sports clinic in Hove on Friday afternoon for some computerised 360 degree video gait analysis. Hopefully that will shed some light on where I’m going wrong with my running style and trainer selection. I shall let you know how that went next week and hopefully, how I got on in the Sussex Beacons Half. Fingers crossed!
