Swim Club

The end of August is almost upon us and I still can't run. However...

• I can give blood and just about not faint
• I can swim loads and become the fastest in the medium speed lane
• I can unleash a proper smile with 50% less metal involved

I've said for years that giving blood is something I'd like to do, so with some gentle coercion I booked an appointment and spent the day eating chocolate to 'up my blood sugar'. I've got no problem with needles and actually found it interesting to watch the process. It didn't take too long and I felt fine. Then the nurse brought my chair back upright and things started to get a bit ropey! 

 

The nurse gave me that knowing look and asked me two or three times if I felt ok. I feel fineeeee I said. Each time I answered I felt less sure of my answer. By the fourth I'm fineeeee I was not fine ha, and my eyes started doing that mad thing when your vision starts to close in, combined with my body melting down and feeling like I'd had five too many beers the night before and finished it with a spin on the dodgems. 

The nurses flapped around, icing my neck and fanning me until I didn't 'look grey'. Fortunately within ten minutes or so I was a-ok and well on to my third pack of Biscoff biscuits. All a big ado about nothing really. Since then the blood guys have sent me more texts than anyone else, said my blood is good and ready to go and sent me a lovely keyring. All worthy of my ten minutes of feeling a wee bit tricky, and an amazing thing to do. Go do it!

I've been swimming at least twice a week which, now that I've found a pool that isn't full of ignorant knobheads doing backstroke in a packed pool and a half decent changing room, I don't mind as much. 

I think it also helps that I'm getting better at it. No longer am I the floundering seal in the middle lane, now I'm the undisputed champion of the middle lane. I wasn't even overtaken for 162 lengths until some dolphin went passed me yesterday. But don't you worry sports fans, I got him back later on. 

It's still staggeringly dull, but it's keeping some sort of fitness together for me.

BIG things are happening with my teeth though (which reminds me, watch STRANGER THINGS, it's mega). On Thursday just gone, I had my top braces removed. 

YES.

This is a huge thing for me. The photo below shows what they were like before and the comprehensive whacking the teeth took from the cricket ball. To go from that to the current reality in six months is bloody amazing.

The bottom teeth still need some work, but no one can see them bad boys so it's fine. My dentist is my hero.

In other news, I had a scan on my knee and saw the specialist a few times. Thankfully the scan showed no stress fracture or damage to the bone (hallelujah) but I do have a sprain to the medial ligament. So it most certainly could have been worse but it reaffirms the decision to pull out of Berlin. That was dead in the water as soon as I felt it.  I'm targeting a return to the roads at the end of September and already eyeing up what runs to do next year. I will do a marathon. So fix up knee.

In the mean time, if anyone has any recommendations for Berlin let me know. There is now considerably more emphasis on eating and drinking, so it's not all bad.

So remember; go give blood, go swimming and always, always brush your teeth.

Call Home

This time last week I had just got home after running 17 miles in 2 hours and 25 minutes. This was a big moment for me - the longest distance I'd ran, the longest block of time I'd ran and the first time I genuinely thought I could run the 26 miles that lie in wait in Berlin come September 25th. 

Today, I had to call home after three miles to get someone to come and pick me up. My knee, sending out alarm bells on every impact, wasn't having it. Or at least, it was certainly on the way to not having it. All I could think about for a good mile before I eventually did throw in the towel was - do not run through pain.

Not pain from running for over an hour or two, the pain of something not being quite right. It is a very different pain. You know that you've ran 17 miles, you feel it in your muscles and your bones, your feet and your legs - but that is more of a 'bloody hell, you ran how far?!' kind of satisfying pain. 

Today was very different and I think it is my own naivety that caused it.

After Saturday last week I felt good, pretty sore on Sunday and then less so on Monday. A normal sort of recovery time for 12+ mile runs for me. I decided to go for a steady 'recovery' run on Monday night and didn't think anything of it. Then Tuesday comes along and the pain on the inside of my left knee arrives. It's a strange one to describe - the knee itself feels strong, but there is a distinct discomfort that flares up when I walk. 

I decided to rest and did not do my usual second run of the week on Thursday and was confident that the discomfort was decreasing. I went out this morning planning to do five miles but after three I knew the only sensible option was to stop. 

With Berlin in 12 weeks, it isn't a time to grit my teeth and drag out a few more miles home for the sake of it. There is literally nothing to gain doing that. 

So here I sit, after a twenty minute soak in the bath, with voltarol on my knee and a few painkillers currently doing their thing too. 

It is so bloody frustrating. 

I don't think it's serious and I've loosely linked it to inflammation of the tendons/bursa on the inside of the knee which a quick google firmly points the finger at upping the milage too soon as the cause. I probably shouldn't have done 17 (a bit of a jump, admittedly), and I probably should have given it another day or two of recovery.

(P.S. I know it is ridiculous to google symptoms, and I normally never would, but I'm pretty sure there are no instances of anyone dying from a sore knee...)

But heyho, you live and learn.

I plan to take it relatively easily for the next few days/week and see whether there is a improvement. I'm hopeful I will be able to look back at this and see it as a useful milestone in the Berlin build up, sort of bringing me back down to earth after being relatively comfortable last week. I've never really had any real pain before that has hindered my ability to run, and maybe this just highlights how different the game is when it comes to marathon training. There was a danger of becoming overconfident in what I can do, when really I need to plan the next 12 weeks much more stringently and not break my body before we even get in to August. 

That's how I'm going to choose to spin it in my mind anyway, otherwise it's all a bit disheartening.

So I'm going to lie in bed, play Football Manager and eat ice cream.