Friday 18 January 2008

Good news and... well something I never knew about me!!

I had a good session with the physio this morning. He asked me to describe in detail what was wrong, he looked at my feet he looked at the back of my legs and he poked around with my toes a bit. Then he explained what was wrong, and how we were going to go about fixing it, and not to worry, this doesn't spell the end of my marathon, not yet anyway!

The problem is, despite trying to be careful with my training - to only build it up gradually, I have managed to over train my quadriceps, and it's these stronger muscles in my thighs that are pulling on my knee when I run causing the discomfort in my lower leg. I haven't torn or pulled anything, so all I need is some remedial therapy for my quads to loosen them up a bit, and things shold be back to normal.

quads

Why do my quads hurt my knees? Because I pronate. This in itself is not a problem, as I have the right running shoes for this style of running. However, I am still landing so that my foot turns slightly inwards, thus twisting my knee, and my quads are pulling against the joint.

Why have I only hurt my left leg? Now here's the new thing I learnt today about me, something that I never knew before. I have odd legs. I have one femur that is longer than the other, and on the other leg the tibia is slightly longer than the other to compensate. So overall my legs are the same length, but my knees aren't in exactly the same place on each leg!! It's this imbalance that means my left knee is under a bit more stress.

To fix the problem, I need heat, and to massage it. The physio spent some while massaging my left thigh with a machine. So it's back to gentle running tomorrow after preheating my quads with a hot water bottle, followed by more massaging and more heat. And repeat. Then back to the physio next week for another session. By next weekend I should be back on track with my training. I still have three months until the marathon (well almost), so it's not all doom and gloom after all. I can stop feeling fed up and start getting excited again at the thought of taking part in this world famous event!!

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Running 13.1 miles in memory of Carl

I ran the Silverstone Half Marathon on 15th March 2009. I managed the 13.1 mile course in 2 hours and 4 minutes. Not a bad effort for my first Half Marathon! I returned in 2010 to run it in 1 hour 54 minutes, and plan to do it again in 2011. I decided to run this in aid of The PSC Trust and PSC Support in memory of my brother Carl, who died from liver failure in November 1997. If you'd like to sponsor me for this - please email me at pscrun@ulen.me.uk PSC Trust
PSC Support Or visit my Justgiving page for PSC Support at PSC Support - Justgiving
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