Not Sick But Twisted

It was fairly good news from the physio. I'm not sick - just a little twisted. My pelvis was twisted up and back on the left and this was related to the tight hamstring and the excruciatingly tight calf from the previous week. It's just like the "Bones" song. My hip bone is connected to my thigh bone and my thigh bone's connected to my shin bone. So running a 21k LSD on a really tight calf is apparently not a great idea.

So once I was deemed to be all bent out of shape it was a matter of beating my muscles into submission. Vanessa, my physio, was actually very gentle (compared to my fingers-of-torture masseuse) and by the end of the session my muscles were behaving themselves. She left the decision to run on the weekend up to me. So of course I decided to run - and not just a shorter run - the whole 20k! But I did promise to take it easy.

Saturday's run was not as pain-free as I'd hoped for. The pain in my hip was gone but there was still mild hamstring pain whenever I pushed off on the left. It was worse going up the hills but it was bearable. I intended to turn around if it got too bad but it stayed the same for most of the run and after I got to 10k there was really no point in turning around. The last 3k were not fun. It was humid and having to deal with even very mild pain is tiring so I actually walked two of the last three hills. Luckily my running buddy was not feeling the love at this stage either (he'd done 10k before we'd started) and he was more than happy to walk them with me - he even encouraged it quite strongly.

I spent a good amount of time Saturday afternoon on a tennis ball and stretching and woke up feeling pretty good on Sunday and decided to forgo my afternoon run in favour of my dusty, neglected stationary bike. One hour and twenty minutes later I had a numb bum and a very wet sweat towel AND a healthy glow.

So now what? I'll go to speed tomorrow but take it easy. If it's really bothering me it'll be back to the physio. Lots of stretching and rolling and getting back into the hip stability exercises that I had neglected a few months back because my hamstring was feeling so good. No hills on Thursday (unless I have little or no pain tomorrow). Just a slow gentle 8-10k instead. And maybe I'll give my bike another whirl on Wednesday if I can stand the boredom.

Melbourne is only 5 and a half weeks away so that's my time-line to be pain-free. It's hard juggling the need to train with the need to rest but I'm going to be cautious because the most important thing is to enjoy my run in Melbourne. Booked my plane ticket and accommodation this morning so nothing is going to stop me.