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When is a Runner NOT a Runner? by Pete Tang
When is a runner not a runner?…. When they are injured! Which has been a lot for me this year!
2019 hasn’t been a great year for me injury wise and its taught me a few lessons in keeping motivated or not!
The year started so well with plans of running another marathon in Edinburgh in May. The training was going well. I’d even enjoyed a hill repeats workout. 5 Times up and down Winterbourne Hill! Sadly, things fell apart a week later when I sustained a hamstring tear in March. At that time my world was up the air. This was the first significant injury I’d had since I took up running in 2016.
I did however have a goal still in mind. The Marathon at the end of May was still in the Calendar. Physio mode took over and I set about the task of recovery and rehab with a dedication I hoped all my clients had! I sensibly took a rest period and sought the help of my physio colleagues at the clinic for treatment (the hamstrings aren’t the easiest place to get to yourself). I then started my gym routine substituting running with the cross trainer, introducing mobility exercises and strength work slowly as time went by. By week 5 I was doing 90 min stints on the cross trainer 3 times a week and the hamstring was getting stronger. I still felt like a runner, I had a running goal. I returned to running shortly afterwards – a steady 5K – no reaction. It was early April by now and the Marathon seemed so much closer, but I still fully intended to make it to the start line. My goal had shifted. The aim was now to get around rather any time in mind, after all the flight and accommodation were all booked and paid for. Plus, my wife had a place and had been training too and I didn’t want to let her down. There was still a goal and motivation to keep running.
BOOM. Injury number 2. No soon had I just returned to running I was knocked off my bike commuting home from work. Nothing too serious just a thumb injury, whiplash and a mild concussion. But nevertheless, it was another delay in the training program. The Marathon now looked like an impossibility. Arrgh! Visions of standing on the side lines, cheering on the wife and others as they ran filled my thoughts. I couldn’t think of anything worse. Travelling all that way to just spectate. My motivation was dwindling. It was while I was resting from this injury that I received an email from Edinburgh Marathon informing me that the Marathon was a sell out again this year! Great! BUT… the half marathon had spaces left. It was at that moment I knew I had a fallback plan and something to keep me motivated. With a few clicks I had rearranged things and was signed for the half… along with the wife who by now had let her marathon training slip due to lack of support from me. I’m please to say I managed to complete 2 half marathons in May despite all the odds being against me. The times didn’t matter but the achievement felt just a rewarding as my first half. Having the incentive of an event certainly helped my motivation to keep running.
Roll forward to August and BOOM, injury number 3. This time a knee issue – a tibial stress fracture with suspected meniscal tear. The main problem …. No clear goal to motivate me. 12 weeks off running was needed. My rehab mojo was running on empty by now. My knee pain was pretty severe at times. Training 4 times a week looked like a chore, if not an impossibility. Cycling (my other passion) took centre stage. The knee could cope with that. I managed a sportive, 50 miles. I rode 2-3 times a week as the weather was good. It kept things ticking over fitness wise, but the thoughts of running seemed to ebb away. I wasn’t rehabbing like before I was ticking over. I’d become lazy. No more getting home from work and throwing on the running kit. No more weekend long runs. No longer a runner. What’s more my lethargy was also affecting my wife as we weren’t motivating each other to run and the weather was getting worse, so the cycling was also taking a hit.
It was Late October and I needed to get out of the rut I was stuck in I needed some motivation. I needed a goal. It was my email inbox that again provided the inspiration I needed. We’d signed for the London Vitality Half Marathon and I’d totally forgotten about it. A reminder email arrived. Sunday 1st March 2020. Only 4 months to get fit for it. Time to test the knee. A steady walk jog and all seemed fine. A gradual 2 miles – no drama; 5K and eventually a 10K. I was getting there….. Then BOOM…
Tooth abscess… requiring a surgical incision. And yes! that’s as painful as it sounds. I felt like I’d had a spear stuck through the roof of my mouth. Pain killers, antibiotics and 2 weeks of really not wanting to exercise let alone run. But the goal was still in the achievable distance and so on a very cold Saturday afternoon I dragged myself around 5K and you know what…. I actually felt better for it! Tonight will be run number 2 and I’m heading out with the running club, another 5K.
Its fair to say its been an up and down year but I’ve certainly had my resolve tested. At times I thought I wouldn’t run again. At times I couldn’t possibly run. At times I didn’t want to run. But in the end the sense of achievement and motivation by entering an event gave me the determination to get back out there and do it. For me a half marathon was a perfect goal, challenging but achievable. Others may need a different goal. So, if you are no longer a runner but really want to be one again, think of an achievable and realistic running goal and put a date in the calendar. Then put on your trainers and take the first steps once again. If you need help and advice with injury assessment or management book up and see me or one of the team at The Physio Clinic Bristol. You can be sure of a sympathetic ear and a professional service dedicated to helping you achieve your running goals.
Pete Tang
Going to run a Marathon? Reasons to start your strength work now
When you’re doing a run training program for a marathon, you will have several run sessions per week, some of which will be long and take hours out of your day, giving you less time to dedicate to strengthening. However, you need to be strong to be able to withstand the increasing demand of upping your mileage as your training progresses. Using your time wisely and getting into a strengthening program before you need to start thinking about how you are going to get the miles in, is your safest bet to build a solid base to build those miles.
The repetitive load of running and the increasing demand on your musculoskeletal system require you to be nice and strong.
It is not enough to think you can rely on gradually getting stronger as your miles rack up. A marathon program will push anyone to their limits and should be respected. Training is specifically designed to challenge your stamina and endurance, as this is what most people will need to work on to complete the marathon distance. However, distance running training programmes are generally not designed to build strength or power.
Strength is different from just tapping out the long miles and requires a different type of training. Not many peoples’ bodies, or diaries, will be able to tolerate the demand of introducing both increased mileage and strength training at the same time. That would be a prime recipe for injury! as would not doing strength training at all.
Benefits of Strength Training on running
- The stronger the muscles are the better they are able to withstand the forces the body is put under when running.
- Suboptimal strength of the muscles will lead to excess stress on the joints and other soft tissues.
- Relatively weak muscles do not tolerate new stresses well and can quickly become painful when overloaded.
- Strength training aids the speed of recovery once the mileage ramps up as your body will be more conditioned to the forces being set against it.
Getting a decent strength training program underway now will help to ensure you are up to the task of getting through your marathon training program.
It gives the body a gradual ramp-up of loading and a chance to get used to being under more physical stress. If you are a seasoned marathon runner who knows they have the miles in them then strength training will likely be the thing between you and a new PB for next season.
My road to becoming a runner – Pete Tang
So, at the end of August in 2016 after a particularly energetic day at the beach the whole family walked the half mile back from the beach, up the sand dunes and the short hill to the cottage we were renting. It’s safe to say that my son and I were clearly out of puff when I heard the fateful words from my wife, Tracy, “You and Alex should do a couch to 5K”. Well I’ve never heard my kids laugh so hard in all my life. “Dad run. Don’t be ridiculous”. My son didn’t seem too concerned.
To put this in to context, those who know me well know ‘I don’t do running’! Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve ran in the past, but that was always for sport, rugby etc or sprints (at School) but distance running…. that’s what you had to do as punishment for dropping the ball.
Like lots of people in their 40’s I’ve done my fair share of intermittent bouts of exercise over the years, gyms, hill walking, mountain biking and for the last few years’ road cycling. I’ve even tried running in the past but always failed for various reasons hence why I don’t do running! My wife however got back into running at the beginning of the year having not ran for 20 years and had truly caught the running bug thanks to North Bristol Running Group.
It was certainly true that the cycling I was doing was helping my health but it was difficult to fit it in all the time and clearly it wasn’t giving me all the fitness benefits I thought it was. My weight wasn’t changing much, I could cycle for miles without too much trouble but I guess I wasn’t challenging myself enough and I was just enjoying the ride. So, after a night’s sleep, a £2.99 app download and with the mocking laughter of my kids still ringing in my ears I decided to take on the challenge and prove them wrong! My son and I will run…..much to his disappointment.
Tracy wasn’t going to let me off once I’d committed so as soon as we returned to Bristol off we went to get trainers. We went to up and running in Henleaze who had fitted Tracy out earlier in the year and offered a fantastic service. Fully kitted out with trainers and an app to guide us my son and I embarked on our first run together.
I’ve always struggled in the past to run. Invariably I’d set off too quick end up out of breath or straining something. The Couch to 5K app however made us walk for the first 5 minutes followed by 1 minute of running and then 1.5 minutes walking. We repeated this 1 min run and 1.5 min walk six times and finished our first session as we’d started with a 5 min walk – a grand total of 25 minutes and 1.4 miles; according to Strava. Things increased slowly over the first few weeks, running/walking 3 times a week never more than 30 minutes and with gradually increasing run segments and shorter walking periods.
By week 4 I’d actually managed to walk/run a full 5K by adding a bit extra on to the apps suggested plan. By week 6 however I was starting to get a few niggles especially in the shins and calf plus my old ACL injured knee was playing up, all this despite my dedication to cooling down, using my foam roller and stretching. As a physiotherapist, you can’t always treat yourself and its difficult sometimes to assess your own body and be objective. It was therefore time to pull rank and pull in some favours!
Look out for the next part when I discovered what was causing my knee pain and how I’ve discovered why I keep getting tightness, niggles and strains in my calf and how I’m now managing this.
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