Planning for my comeback

There is more to running than increasing speed... 

I have been plotting my running comeback since the first day of my injury. At first I hoped it would be 1 week out with a slow comeback. I soon realized this was delusional and am now in week 2 with some progress, but clearly not recovered. 

My feet are itching to run again, but I've vowed to be more careful going forward. Speed killed and I know it will not help if I tell people this, but I am writing this blog for myself. To remind me of the dangers of pushing too hard. I recall a vivid memory during my first Ottosdal night race. We were running the 21 km event and there was a group of runners, clearly a bunch of novices led by a bus driver, running with us. The leader made them adhere to a strict walk-run strategy and every time they walked he (very loudly) reminded them that "Speed, not distance, kills". I think they were doing their first marathon. Patiently he just kept this routine up and kept them from "rushing out". This mantra has stuck with me over the past few years and I often repeat the story to novices. Somehow though, especially after Comrades, I felt invincible. I started pushing hard at track and honestly believe it all led to my injury on that fated morning during the Northgate 10 km race. It's been a hard fall. Arrogance is a serious enemy of a runner. We easily forget that we are only human. Generally, I am quite a conservative runner. I start slow. I warm-up slowly and I don't push myself into pain early in a race. However, I got swept up in the frenzy of PBs that was going on around me, inspired by my own 10 km and Comrades runs, I thought I was safe and I felt I had time to play with speed. After Comrades we felt great and went back to running within 2 weeks of the big race. In the third week we were pushing hard during track running sprints and running faster than we probably should have. Because I felt I could, I wanted to fit in, be part of the runners, peer pressure, all that jazz. The Wednesday before the Northgate race, I ran fast short distances and started feeling an ache in my hamstring. I slowed down a bit but not much. It was a familiar ache so I did not worry too much. I stretched and told myself to stretch more. It's been an uphill battle since the real injury hit me during that race. I know how to run with pain. I did many hours of it during the Comrades, but this was "damaged" pain. It's very different to an existing ache that just stays there whilst you plod on. Both my calf and my hamstring muscle now is extremely sensitive. Not sure if it is as a result of the rest or the injury or the rubbing, but it feels like I have two very deep bruises on the two muscles. Very specific, pin point aches or bruising. I am not sure if I am improving or not and have not attempted to run yet, I am actually petrified to find out whether I can or can't. I can now climb down stairs without too much discomfort, and the ache in my Achilles area is definitely more of a dull stiffness rather than an ache. The uncertainty eats at me. I feel like I am not doing the right things, yet I don't know what else to do.

My haphazard treatment strategy thus far are an eclectic mix of paranoia, advice from friends and the internet and just doing stuff because I have to do something:

1. Eccentric stretching of the calf muscle on a step

2. Ice

3. Rest

4. Rubbing

5. Rest

6. Some desperate anti-inflammatory taking after week one

7. More rest

8. Worrying

9. Googling

10. Watching Tour de France and Wimbeldon 

11. Foam rolling

12. More worrying

13. Kinesio taping

14. Blogging about it

15. Rubbing in all types gels related to muscle soreness

16. More stretching

Next step is to see if I can do a gentle, slow jog on the weekend. Hoping the ache in the calf and hamstring muscle is just a bruise from the rubbing. I really don't know. If it is not better by next week I will have to go see a professional to get an opinion. In the meantime, I am open to suggestions to my list of treatment strategies.

For my comeback, I plan to respect speed a bit more and stop comparing myself to the younger, faster speedsters at track. I love the track group, but I have to be careful not to get into the habit of pushing "all the time" or getting swept up in the mad rush to run faster all the time. This is by the way, advice I give people all the time. And generally I adhere to it as well. This is a wake-up call, I wish I had not made the series of mistakes that led to this, but it is what it is. I am not a spring chicken anymore, my body needs more time to recover. I need to be more gentle with it. I will. I WILL be kinder to my muscles. I don't care if I run slow, I just want to RUN. Please...