Firstly a run down of my activities and then a sad "face up to the facts".
Saturday 18/9
Type: Run
Distance: 7.25miles
Time: 1hr 5mins
Pace: 9min/mile
A trial run in my old shoes (no support). Knee was fine until about 3 miles when pain got gradually worse. ARGH.
Friday 17/9
Type: Swim
Distance: 46 lengths (f.c)
Thursday 16/9
Type: Cross Train + strength training
Time: 30 mins x-trainer + strength training
Wednesday 15/9
Type: Cross train
Time: 15 mins
Tried to also run on the treadmill in my bare feet just to check whether that would hurt (plus the gym was empty) but the staff stopped me...annoying!
Tuesday 14/9
Type: Swim
Distance: 56 lengths (f.c)
Monday 13/9
Type: Run/Power walk
Distance: 2-3 miles
Time: 40 mins
Saturday 11/9
Type: Run
Distance: 3-4 miles
Time: 45 mins
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Ok, now to the fun part.
My run on Saturday (just after my blog post) was still really sore, however I kept on stretching and afterwards it didn't hurt as bad as it normally does.
So I saw the physio on Monday as planned and the very first thing she said to me was that I had a mishapen left leg. I saw what she meant immediately and I guess I notice every day...but I think I just never really NOTICED properly before (if that makes sense). It's maybe easy to see in this picture:
My left leg bends outwards at the knee and goes quite far out when I'm totally relaxed. This is perhaps due to the fallen arch in my left foot but it's something which had never really affected my running...until I started trying to correct the fallen arches.
The physio thinks that this has transferred the strain from the inside of my foot & leg (which are used to coping with it) to my knee and shin. She says it's very likely the cause of the shin cramping. This was all good to know, except that she then went on to say I have incredibly weak hips and really need to work on those to be able to stop myself getting injured on long distances.
Great.
Her recommendation was to stop wearing the orthotics and stop wearing my "new" (since April) Brooks shoes altogether, as she doesn't want me to wear anything which try to correct my feet. She said go back to my old running shoes (which have very little in the way of correction) and put a non-tailored, padded insole in those. She pointed out that the root cause of all my pain stemmed from me buying my new shoes (which I guess was true) and if I gradually wean myself back into my old ones we can go from there.
I was glad that she said it's not an injury and is something which can be fixed.
So, also this week I had my very first sports massage at the Garscube. The guy was quite nice and immediately noticed something else which he thought would have a negative impact on my running - my right leg is over an inch longer than my left leg. I guess this is quite normal, but he said it's probably putting strain on the muscles in my left leg, and with the weakness of the hip as it is, that would be a problem.
He, however, said I should keep wearing the insoles as they should give me a bit more support when running. Something else he noticed too is that I have a bad muscle imbalance in my quads. The main muscle and those down the outside of the leg are ok, but it's the inner leg which is really weak.
Since this is the sight of my pain:
He thinks part of my problem might be to do with that weak muscle not kicking in to pull the kneecap over when I bend my knee, so my knee stays quite rigid. So he gave me some strengthening exercises to do which I've been doing each day since.
Now comes my dilemma.
I have the Loch Ness marathon on 3rd October, that's 2 weeks today. My run yesterday (7 miles) proved I CAN run, but I am in pain for the most part which is not fun. Other than anything else I do not want to injure myself further. And on top of that, I have done VERY little training - the furthest I've run since the Devil is 13 miles.
So it is with a REALLY heavy heart that I think I am going to have to pull out of Loch Ness. I am absolutely crushed and part of me thinks "well, I could do it...it'd be sore but I could try and push for an ok time?" but is this just stupid? I think it is. I know there is always next year, but come race day if I'm lying in bed thinking "I could be running a great, scenic marathon right now..." I know I'll be really upset.
But on the otherhand I could be standing at the start line not sure if I'll be able to finish, or worried about how much pain I'll be in.
Am I making the right decision? I wonder.
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