Sometimes enough is enough but it's onwards and upwards now

As some of you may know and may have noticed, being able to run has been a bit of a struggle since July. A calf problem, aggravated by speed work, flip flops and walking bear foot on holiday, slowly turned into my previous achillies tendinopathy flaring up again. For a few months I did my best to train and run through it, which included 2 half marathons, a undulating 10km, a few parkRuns and even a cross country race but it finally became too much about a month ago when I was attempting a long run around Virginia Waters. I wasn't even 2 miles into the run and my left calf became very tight and I really struggled to run back to the car.

Enough was enough, I had tried everything that I knew to do for achillies tendinopathy, including stretching, teaching my boyfriend how to do Accupuncture on my calf, hot and cold hydrotherapy, eccentric exercises for my calfs and achillies, green tea, nutrition, wearing a heel raise and a gait analysis to check I was wearing the correct running trainers.

A very good friend of mine recommended I see a podiatrist, Karen Knightly of foot mechanix. At the initial consultation, I discovered I was wearing the wrong running trainers as my right foot/ankle wasn't allowed to naturally pronate like it needed to because of how my foot is made up. I'm no longer allowed to wear uggs, converse, vans, ballet pumps or heels. People who know me well, know I live in these shoes, but it's a sacrifice I have to make. I was also told I was only allowed to do minimal running until I have the customised orthotics that are currently being made for me.

I was upset that I wasn't able to run or train properly until Christmas, especially as I am doing Brighton Marathon in 2015 and was hoping to train properly for it!! After a big think, I realised it wasn't the end of the world; I belong to a gym ( a big thanks to Ben for that) and I have an amazing personal trainer, Dave Cole of Physicole Fitness, who is helping me improve the strength and conditioning side of my training.

So 2 weeks in, I'm training 5 days a week on the cross trainer at the gym. 2 sessions are interval sessions, 1 long rep session and 1 short recovery speed session. I'm having 2 to 3 personal training sessions a week and then making it up to 5 strength and conditions sessions, concentrating on mobility, technique, stretching and getting my glutes to work. 

I have seen this a lot being an osteopath, that a lot of runners who come in with lower limb injuries or lower back pain can be caused by their Glute muscles not working properly. There are a few simple exercises that you can do at home that can get them working but I will share them with you in another blog. 

Being injured is tough mentally. I lost the enthusiasm to train at times and I started to comfort eat therefore my weight increased. Being told I couldn't really run was a massive motivation to get myself as strong and fit as possible so when I can run, I can hopefully start to train properly and get ready for Brighton Marathon 2015. I am also working on my diet and nutrition. Junk food is no longer allowed, my protein intake has increased along with mangesium to help with muscle recovery and repair. This has been done my having a whey protein shake after each gym session I do and increasing the amount of meat that is in my diet. I'm not going to lie, it is difficult trying to avoid the foods that I love but it's all for the best and I feel so much better for working on my nutrition.

To all those who have had to put of with moaning about not being able to run and my weight I'm sorry  but thank you for your support and helping me.

Lotsa love 


Fudgeybum xx