The sound of inevitability

Many things are inevitable in this life. 

Tory leadership contests. 

Manchester United promising that the next new manager will change the club's fortunes. 

Brits moaning when it gets hot - in summer. 

And running injuries.

I knew I was treading a fine line. I'd been pushing my body so hard recently that the likelihood of me not getting injured was about the same as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss admitting that, actually the other one probably would be a better leader of the country. 

Ironically I had only just published a blog post reviewing the last six months and giving thanks for the lack of injuries. 

There was no warning, no subtle hints given beforehand; no niggles, soreness or tightness. In fact during last Saturday's 32 mile ultra I felt good. If you had told me an injury was coming and asked me to guess where it would occur, I might have suggested a recurrence of my hip pain that I treated just ten days ago. Perhaps a tweak of the knee or ankle due to a misstep on gnarly trail. A calf strain or pulled hamstring? I would have been plucking body parts out of the air like Hannibal Lecter in a zero gravity all you can eat buffet.

The truth is I didn't see it coming, but I should have.

If you keep pushing yourself to the limit over a prolonged period of time with inadequate time to rest and recuperate your body will fail. It may take a long time to reach that point - I've been blessed with a relatively long healthy streak - but no one is immune. If you don't look after the engine, the car will break down.

After my long run I went about my normal day. It was later that evening that I felt discomfort in the front of my right shin when lifting my foot. I've had it before and it usually goes after a few hours rest. Not this time. I awoke to a considerable ache along the shin bone. I knew I needed to rest, but I'd arranged to lead a running tour at 7am and it was too late/inconvenient/embarrassing to cancel.

I managed to complete the tour; fifteen miles around central London. A fantastic route on a beautiful day with a friendly chap from Canada and a woodpecker attempting to hollow out my right tibia. Now I could rest. However, the damage had been done. As I hobbled to the nearest tube I rattled through the five stages of grief.

Denial - Maybe if I put some ice on my leg it will be fine tomorrow?
Anger - But why didn't I just cancel the stupid tour, I knew I shouldn't have run on it!
Bargaining - I'll take a week off, I'll even do my stretches every day, just please stop hurting.
Depression - That's it, I've done my last run. It's probably a fracture.
Acceptance - Actually I only made it to number four...

The days passed and, like the behaviour of politicians in the House of Commons, there was still no improvement. I made an appointment with a physio hoping that they would be able to rule out the possibility of a fracture. Thankfully he did. He explained that the damage had been done to the anterior tibialis muscle and surrounding tendons. 

All I wanted from him was a quick fix to get me going again. A pill to take and tomorrow I'd be back out there. If only. 

(I'd have the red, blue and purple by the way, although if I took the red and blue together they would make purple. Not sure if that works...)

As the physio began politely explaining how foolish I had been by overtraining and not allowing sufficient recovery time, I pulled out my Victorian evening dress and brunette wig, made myself a cup of tea and pondered aloud...

When that didn't work I explained that I'd been using the RICE technique of Raising, Icing, Compressing and Elevating the leg. To my surprise he told me this was no longer the advice to follow. Apparently this hampers the recovery by reducing blood flow to the muscle. He massaged the damaged area and advised me instead to use a warm compress to draw blood to the area and promote healing. 

The new recommendation replacing RICE is the short and sweet PEACE and LOVE.

Protect
Elevate
Avoid anti-inflammatory modalities
Compress
Educate

Load
Optimism
Vascularisation
Exercise

Got it? About as catchy and memorable as this year's Germany Eurovision entry. Basically just keep moving as much as you can without making the injury hurt and hope for the best. Thanks.

So, I can't run. I don't know when I will next be able to run. I don't even know if I will ever run again - whoops there goes the optimism. But seriously, this is a wake up call for me. I need to show more respect to my body, to give rest, fuel and sleep equal importance to the actual running. Easy to say now. 

The proof of whether I have learnt my lesson will be in the running pudding I suppose. I can't wait for my next slice.