After the RingOFire back in September '14 I decided to do as little as possible as my body was getting a bit fed up with the punishment that it had been taking. That and to be honest I simply wasn't looking after it, I knew this yet I did nothing about it, rest I thought would sort it out. I was becoming so tight in the legs that I was now struggling to touch my toes, could't even get my leg over onto the bike properly. Something had to happen.
Equinox24
It was time to have another go at the Equinox24 again. Everything was starting well considering that I hadn't ran over 15 miles since RingOFire, I wasn't quite up to speed as the year before but not far off and I had plenty of energy left. At about 80 mile in all of a sudden I literally couldn't move, I could barely walk and an excruciating pain in my right chin and also my groin was locking up. I knew it was time to call it a day before I did some serious damage. I managed to get to the finish line of the next lap and straight to the massage tent. The guy took one look at my leg now twice the size as normal and pulled one of them faces 'your buggered mate, get to hospital'. By then I actually couldn't walk and I needed carrying back to my tent.It turned out that I had actually got a stress fracture whilst doing the RingOFire, they deduced this because it was already on its way to healing. Looking back I actually know the instance it happened, it was on the last day about half way in, all of a sudden I got an excruciating pain in the chin which brought me to a standstill but all I did was wrap my buff tightly around the chin and continued on with a drip feed of Ibuprofen and Cocodomal (I was invincible!)
Considering I had a stress fracture I guess getting to 80 miles isn't that bad but how much damage had I now done and how long will it now take to heal.
The Hill
Now it was time to consider what to do about the hill. The Hill is a 160 mile 'race' which simply goes up and down the same hill, usually in awful conditions and having just 48 hours in which to complete it.
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My injuries were taking longer than I thought they would to get better I was barely managing 10 miles without some discomfort, to add to that an old calf injury on my left leg kicked in again (again down to the lack of movement in my body). It was time to face facts and consider dropping out but so close to the event I wasn't allowed to defer. A friend of mine who is an extremely good runner (UTMB, Western States etc) said he would take my place, great this made me feel much better but then a week before the event he also picked up an injury and couldn't enter.
There was only one thing for it, I would have to give it a go. I had been warming up a bit better than I normally do before my runs (i.e. doing something) and had a relatively pain free (less) run. This was probably my own way of convincing myself to take part.
Event day went as was expected I guess, I got about 30 miles in and the legs just weren't happy, the calf wasn't hurting but there was just that niggling feeling something was about to happen, also probably because I had been compensating I was now having trouble with my right knee. For once I made the right decision and stopped early before serious damage was done. There was no way I could continue for another 130 miles so damage limitation it was.
2015
Since The Hill I had plenty of rest and just ticking over rather than full on winter training. Lately I have also been doing a lot of stretching which has also vastly improved my mobility, not anything like it needs to be to prevent injuries but it is definitely heading in the right direction. Stretching and staying healthy are my main goals for 2015 and obviously more stupid events!
A couple of weeks ago I decided to take part in CTS Angelsey Ultra, its only a 33 mile run with plenty of hills but I had done it last year so I could use it as a marker to see where my fitness was. I managed a PB by 10mins dipping just under the 6hrs and in 14th place. My fitness is not were I would like it to be but its in a better place than I thought it would be. I just need to get this calf sorted then its game on!
So far this years big events are WasdaleX extreme iron triathlon, Outlaw iron distance triathlon, Equinox24 and I have to give The Hill some justice towards the end of the year. I will also be down at Enduroman again this but so far undecided what event to try. If my calf heals correctly I am tempted to try the 200 mile ultra otherwise it might be the double iron distance again.
Fingers crossed for a good 2015.
Thanks for reading
