You’re only as good as your last injury
You’re only as good as your last injury
I attempted another 10 miler after work yesterday to get my legs turning over again after Friday’s full distance session. These 10 milers are now referred to as my lighter workouts and I find the distance rewarding, both mentally and physically. I normally need anywhere between 3 – 7km to burn my legs in so that my shin and calf muscles fully warm up. I really need to get this warm up nailed before races because it’s costing me valuable minutes due to having to hold myself back. I’m also struggling to do any more than 10 miles on a weekday evening, not because of the distance but rather due to the sun now going down more quickly than before. The temperature is perfect for running, but the lack of light just seems so much less inviting…
I thought I’d take the rest of this opportunity to talk about injuries. Thankfully, I’ve only sustained very minor injuries so far:
- right lower-back ache
- black toenails
- missing toenail
- left knee soreness
If you’re of a sensitive nature and are easily sickened, do not continue reading!
The worst of the bunch is that I’ve lost the big toenail on my left foot. That toe hasn’t been right for years, once due to my friend Leo planting a chair leg on it with his full weight, and again due to the Silverstone half marathon earlier in the year. The result was that it turned black and had in effect died. All this training has loosened it up and I’ve had to trim the nail down to about 1/3 of its normal length to avoid it catching. I’m now having to tape it up with plasters to prevent it being knocked out during runs. Yesterday’s run was perfect with it taped up and I may even do the other toe to balance things up. The reason my toes are suffering so much is because my little toes curl naturally and my big toes hit the front of my running shoes due to me not tightening them up adequately. I’ve had conflicting info thrown at me regarding shoe tightness, with one marathon runner telling me to leave them quite loose to allow for swelling during the race, and others telling me to tighten them up to prevent heel movement. I have a sneaking suspicion that I had them slightly too tight last night which excacerbated the shin burning problem hence extended warm up time. On my next run, I’ll tie them so that there’s just about no heel movement which should be a good guage to go by.
It’s safe to continue reading again.
Getting back to injuries in general, these are all very real things which runners suffer with. Some are minor and can be run through; many are more major and once inflicted, require months of recuperation to correct which means lost training time. It seems the stronger and faster I want to become, the more potential I have to injure myself. The average body really isn’t suited to distance running, yet as any distance runner will tell you, you simply crave more once you’ve reached certain milestones. The bottom line is to stay safe out there; you know your own body better than anybody else and if it feels minor then man up and run through the pain. If it’s bad enough to cause you to stop mid run, don’t carry on until you have a clearer idea of what the problem is. As the title of this entry refers to, an injured runner is a non-competing runner.
