Perth Marathon 
.
Perth Marathon
. 
Wanneroo Nationals 8km Walk 1989,
Good news and bad news
The good news is that the Doc thinks my Hammy is fine, and there is no issue with that based on the tests I did with sports doctor today.
The other good news is that I am still a 50/50 chance of running the 2008 Melbourne Marathon, and at this stage I can still work albeit a bit slower than normal.
The bad news is that Doc thinks I ***may*** (unconfirmed only an educated guess at this stage by the Doc, although the signs are that he might be correct)
have stress fractures of the femur... or something else thats been causing me pain this week...If its something else (it seems clear the hamstring is not a problem after all so my guess on that was wrong) I may still be a chance for the Melbourne Marathon, and my enforced "taper" may be a blessing in disguise.
However its looking like I may have a much more serious injury than I first thought, although I am hoping this ends up being just another episode of "drama-king Jon"...
Bone scans next week, should know in 7 days whether my 2008 Melbourne marathon dream is shattered or not...
Emotionally its already a bit hard to take, but I have accepted that if its not Gods will for me to run then I just have to deal with the emotional letdown, try and salvage something from the considerable financial outlay I have already made on this dream of a PB in Melbourne this year, and try and go again another time maybe...
Possibly soon start treatment...
If it is the femur I have to be careful as a full break of this large bone would be rather catastrophic...
So no running for at least a week, pray and think about something else whenever I can for now...see what happens. The dream is still there, but very strong possibility it will be fully shattered in 7 days time... Have to wait and see...
The saga or "case history" so far has been
1-occasional pain under the thigh in the last 3 months I assumed it was a pulled hamstring or something minor and responded to it with icepacks and rest from running for a few days which worked.
2-14th September; I did the tough Eagleview trail for 18km and then added another easy 18km afterwards, and if there was anything suspec Eagleview would have found it I reckon...but only a bit of back soreness, and left knee soreness (since 2000) after that run which I do occasionally get from my back injury I have had since 1996, so didn't think anything unusual...
3-18th Sept had severe soreness after reps on grass. Icepacked it for 30min and that seemed to fix it, assumed it was recurrence of soreness in the last few months due to overstriding in some of the reps, assumed it would clear up. It seemed to be ok the next day.
4-19th September reps on grass pretty sore again icepacked it again. worried a bit.
5-21st september Icepacked it before race (my thigh) as a precaution. Ran freo half marathon (21.1km)(12km? of concrete), it was fine for the first hour or so, got severe soreness at 18km, was tempted to stop, but instead shortened my stride, and the pain went away, and I was running well again by 19km...
On the drive home it got sore again. Started to worry about it a lot...
6-23rd September some icepacking in the last 2 days, felt a bit tender, but seemed to be coming good again, thought I'd have to scale things down if I was to run Melbourne, but still not thinking anything majorly serious...
While doing meter reading work, tried to walk fast to finish off round, experienced significant pain, which came back every time I tried to go fast again, but that was after about 5 hours of no significant pain...
7-23rd September/24th September significant persistant pain not going away, although responding a bit to icepacks and compression bandage,elevation...(RICE; rest,ice,compression,elevation)
8-24th September decided I needed to move into RICER mode (rest,ice,compression,elevation, REFERRAL), as it was starting to become a problem at work, not just for running...
Booked into sports doctor, after initially thinking I'd just try and see a Physio.
9-26th September saw sports doctor, who surprised me by saying hamstring is fine, but makes sense after the tests he did. Booked in for bone scan next week and follow up appointment with sports doctor next Friday 3rd October. Worked on meter reading, being careful not to go too fast in PM, no major problems with that...
DUH DUH and DOUBLE DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(
But God rules and cares.
MELBOURNE 42k (12/10/08) ASSAULT;
WEEK 10 of 12 (22/09/08-28/09/08);
Volume; NIL + 25hrs MR work Sessions;0!
Best RHR; 45!!bpm Sleep; 44.5hrs (6.36hrs per night) *11
OD/LSD; Banned myself from running.
Races/Time trials/LFD; Banned myself from running.
Reps; Banned myself from running.
5-point strategy measures;
1-long run/ride etc done?-NO.
2-2x reps/race/timetrial sessions done?-NO
3-Abs done- NO
4-cycling done-NO
5-swim done?-NO
Comments; feels a bit stupid doing this summary when I may not even be running Melbourne Marathon now, but at this stage its still a 30/70 to 50/50 chance, and I must not concede defeat on this just yet, ;cos it aint over 'til its over... so can't rule it out just yet until I have the bone scan, and chat with the sports Doc, my wife, my Dad, pray to God again...Then I can hopefully make a good decison.
So taking a "glass half full" attitude (i.e. that there is a chance I will still be running Melbourne Marathon 42.2km 2008-aka MM08), I can say that I am slowly starting to crank up my hours a little at work and that should help my running, did better on sleep this week, getting over the 6 hours (per night on average) mark for the first time in a long while. So thats a positive especially with 2 weeks to go b4 MM08. Resting heart rate hit 45! this week, and was in that high mid 40's range on most days this week, which confirms my fitness is peaking at the right time for MM08, as those RHR readings are as good as I've had all year, and one of the few times this year I have dipped well under 49bpm.
So what can I say the main training is done, I am in excellent condition, and am ready fitness wise and endurance wise for a serious assault on my marathon PB on October 12th 2008. I'd like to have done a few solid 10k runs "tempo" style session, and maybe one 22k easy long run, plus some more reps work on the track this week, but have to rest now to give possible stress fractures a chance to heal, can't risk (a) destroying any small chance I still have of holding onto my fading MM08 dream, (b) destroying my ability to do my meter reading work, or (c) risk further serious damage which will prolong my rehab time, recovery from injury. As such I have banned myself from running and cycling. Have to buy some new goggles so I can go swimming next week.
I worked Saturday (both jobs, so about an 11hour day of work and a lot! of driving around) and Sunday this week so, was pretty tired on the weekend, and needed rest, plus emotionally drained from trying to deal with all the emotional trauma from the events of this week. So just needed to make the most of the time I had with Kathryn and Jacob, although we did manage to get to Rob O's book launch briefly, and also see James "mosher" C (moving to Japan soon) and my parents. Jacob trying out his vocal cords loudly and often this weekend, starting to add the odd new word to his currently about 5 word vocabulary...:-)
Still waiting for my $500 state election pay to come in (its been 3 weeks now!, time I started asking them "where is it?"), and get as much work as I can done so we have enough money to cover our family holiday to Melbourne and down south, although now I have medical expenses to cover also, and if I can't run Melbourne 42.2km, I am going to have to reconsider what is best for Kathryn,Jacob and I, although I am leaning towards maybe going to Melbourne no matter what, even if I am not running the marathon. So I think than plan from here will be to walk/hike and swim where I can, rest the thigh be very nice to it at work, and elsewhere, no running or cycling, do my abs, and see how the bone scan goes, try and make a good decision...So still looking good, and hopefully I will be able to go after a major goal race on 12th October, if not then build towards something else in a few months time...once I know where I am at with this injury I can work out what to do next, but I think swimming, hiking/walking and walking in water might be the way to go from here...Maybe a light weights program as well...onward and upward (I hope)...
The other good news is that I am still a 50/50 chance of running the 2008 Melbourne Marathon, and at this stage I can still work albeit a bit slower than normal.
The bad news is that Doc thinks I ***may*** (unconfirmed only an educated guess at this stage by the Doc, although the signs are that he might be correct)
have stress fractures of the femur... or something else thats been causing me pain this week...If its something else (it seems clear the hamstring is not a problem after all so my guess on that was wrong) I may still be a chance for the Melbourne Marathon, and my enforced "taper" may be a blessing in disguise.
However its looking like I may have a much more serious injury than I first thought, although I am hoping this ends up being just another episode of "drama-king Jon"...
Bone scans next week, should know in 7 days whether my 2008 Melbourne marathon dream is shattered or not...
Emotionally its already a bit hard to take, but I have accepted that if its not Gods will for me to run then I just have to deal with the emotional letdown, try and salvage something from the considerable financial outlay I have already made on this dream of a PB in Melbourne this year, and try and go again another time maybe...
Possibly soon start treatment...
If it is the femur I have to be careful as a full break of this large bone would be rather catastrophic...
So no running for at least a week, pray and think about something else whenever I can for now...see what happens. The dream is still there, but very strong possibility it will be fully shattered in 7 days time... Have to wait and see...
The saga or "case history" so far has been
1-occasional pain under the thigh in the last 3 months I assumed it was a pulled hamstring or something minor and responded to it with icepacks and rest from running for a few days which worked.
2-14th September; I did the tough Eagleview trail for 18km and then added another easy 18km afterwards, and if there was anything suspec Eagleview would have found it I reckon...but only a bit of back soreness, and left knee soreness (since 2000) after that run which I do occasionally get from my back injury I have had since 1996, so didn't think anything unusual...
3-18th Sept had severe soreness after reps on grass. Icepacked it for 30min and that seemed to fix it, assumed it was recurrence of soreness in the last few months due to overstriding in some of the reps, assumed it would clear up. It seemed to be ok the next day.
4-19th September reps on grass pretty sore again icepacked it again. worried a bit.
5-21st september Icepacked it before race (my thigh) as a precaution. Ran freo half marathon (21.1km)(12km? of concrete), it was fine for the first hour or so, got severe soreness at 18km, was tempted to stop, but instead shortened my stride, and the pain went away, and I was running well again by 19km...
On the drive home it got sore again. Started to worry about it a lot...
6-23rd September some icepacking in the last 2 days, felt a bit tender, but seemed to be coming good again, thought I'd have to scale things down if I was to run Melbourne, but still not thinking anything majorly serious...
While doing meter reading work, tried to walk fast to finish off round, experienced significant pain, which came back every time I tried to go fast again, but that was after about 5 hours of no significant pain...
7-23rd September/24th September significant persistant pain not going away, although responding a bit to icepacks and compression bandage,elevation...(RICE; rest,ice,compression,elevation)
8-24th September decided I needed to move into RICER mode (rest,ice,compression,elevation, REFERRAL), as it was starting to become a problem at work, not just for running...
Booked into sports doctor, after initially thinking I'd just try and see a Physio.
9-26th September saw sports doctor, who surprised me by saying hamstring is fine, but makes sense after the tests he did. Booked in for bone scan next week and follow up appointment with sports doctor next Friday 3rd October. Worked on meter reading, being careful not to go too fast in PM, no major problems with that...
DUH DUH and DOUBLE DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(
But God rules and cares.
MELBOURNE 42k (12/10/08) ASSAULT;
WEEK 10 of 12 (22/09/08-28/09/08);
Volume; NIL + 25hrs MR work Sessions;0!
Best RHR; 45!!bpm Sleep; 44.5hrs (6.36hrs per night) *11
OD/LSD; Banned myself from running.
Races/Time trials/LFD; Banned myself from running.
Reps; Banned myself from running.
5-point strategy measures;
1-long run/ride etc done?-NO.
2-2x reps/race/timetrial sessions done?-NO
3-Abs done- NO
4-cycling done-NO
5-swim done?-NO
Comments; feels a bit stupid doing this summary when I may not even be running Melbourne Marathon now, but at this stage its still a 30/70 to 50/50 chance, and I must not concede defeat on this just yet, ;cos it aint over 'til its over... so can't rule it out just yet until I have the bone scan, and chat with the sports Doc, my wife, my Dad, pray to God again...Then I can hopefully make a good decison.
So taking a "glass half full" attitude (i.e. that there is a chance I will still be running Melbourne Marathon 42.2km 2008-aka MM08), I can say that I am slowly starting to crank up my hours a little at work and that should help my running, did better on sleep this week, getting over the 6 hours (per night on average) mark for the first time in a long while. So thats a positive especially with 2 weeks to go b4 MM08. Resting heart rate hit 45! this week, and was in that high mid 40's range on most days this week, which confirms my fitness is peaking at the right time for MM08, as those RHR readings are as good as I've had all year, and one of the few times this year I have dipped well under 49bpm.
So what can I say the main training is done, I am in excellent condition, and am ready fitness wise and endurance wise for a serious assault on my marathon PB on October 12th 2008. I'd like to have done a few solid 10k runs "tempo" style session, and maybe one 22k easy long run, plus some more reps work on the track this week, but have to rest now to give possible stress fractures a chance to heal, can't risk (a) destroying any small chance I still have of holding onto my fading MM08 dream, (b) destroying my ability to do my meter reading work, or (c) risk further serious damage which will prolong my rehab time, recovery from injury. As such I have banned myself from running and cycling. Have to buy some new goggles so I can go swimming next week.
I worked Saturday (both jobs, so about an 11hour day of work and a lot! of driving around) and Sunday this week so, was pretty tired on the weekend, and needed rest, plus emotionally drained from trying to deal with all the emotional trauma from the events of this week. So just needed to make the most of the time I had with Kathryn and Jacob, although we did manage to get to Rob O's book launch briefly, and also see James "mosher" C (moving to Japan soon) and my parents. Jacob trying out his vocal cords loudly and often this weekend, starting to add the odd new word to his currently about 5 word vocabulary...:-)
Still waiting for my $500 state election pay to come in (its been 3 weeks now!, time I started asking them "where is it?"), and get as much work as I can done so we have enough money to cover our family holiday to Melbourne and down south, although now I have medical expenses to cover also, and if I can't run Melbourne 42.2km, I am going to have to reconsider what is best for Kathryn,Jacob and I, although I am leaning towards maybe going to Melbourne no matter what, even if I am not running the marathon. So I think than plan from here will be to walk/hike and swim where I can, rest the thigh be very nice to it at work, and elsewhere, no running or cycling, do my abs, and see how the bone scan goes, try and make a good decision...So still looking good, and hopefully I will be able to go after a major goal race on 12th October, if not then build towards something else in a few months time...once I know where I am at with this injury I can work out what to do next, but I think swimming, hiking/walking and walking in water might be the way to go from here...Maybe a light weights program as well...onward and upward (I hope)...
posted by trailblazer777 | 9/26/2008 07:36:00 pm
5 Comments:
Oh no :(
Here's sending masses of good thoughts across the country to you. I so hope its not a stressie, after all the hard work it just wouldn't seem fair.
But hey, if it is don't despair too much. A couple of my good running mates have come back from stressies just as strong if not stronger due to the rehab. Both of them got in the pool and did the same sort of sessions water running as they would on land eg speed, long runs. No hill work but :) And that combined with other cross training and strengthening stuff certainly paid dividends.
Take care.
Ouch !!
Certainly the news did not come at the right time. Hammy can be fixed pretty rapidly and the pain is relatively tolerable, but strees fracture is a different story.
Hope the bone scan prove everyones wrong.
Gee, I hope it's not a stress fracture! Good luck with the bone scan. I know that 3 weeks' rest can fix *some* low grade stress fractures, so maybe nothing between now and the race will work? All the best!
Thanks heaps for your kind comments people!
Tesso thanks for the water running tips will put to use if it is a "stressie" (theres a new word for me)...good to know people do come back after a "stressie"...thanks for the encouragement!
Slingrunner; I'm hoping the bone scan come sup negative too although then the dilemma will be what the heck is it thats giving me pain?!
Ewen; Its exactly 3 weeks from Freo Half to Melbourne Marathon, so IF it is a low grade stress fracture, it just might heal just in time...I was actually thinking that too, and if the bone scan does say that I have a stress fracture I will ask the Doc about that scenario (no running until Melbourne Marathon, then risk it on the day in the hope it has healed enough).
Fairly strong possibility that is a possible scenario that might work for me.
Otherwise its back to the drawing board probably until next year, hopefully come back stronger and better prepared.
I think I am significantly better prepared than last year, but could still do a lot more prep than I have done this time in the future...
See what happens on DDay 3rd October...so until then I will continue my extended training hiatus and maintain the "no running or cycling" ban...might get in the water to swim or walk in water or something...
TB, I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you, I hope Fri brings some good news.
Cheers
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