Zoe’s Double Marathon Challenge for Charity

The Bromley Pavilion Leisure Center has kindly allowed me to place posters of my Double Marathon Challenge for Charity in their center, in an effort to generate community support.

As a local resident and an active member who trains 3 to 4 times a week in the Pavilion Gym, I am truly delighted and sincerely thank the General Manager, Sally Callagham, for her support.

If you are visiting the website after viewing these posters…I want to say thank you and welcome!  Please feel free to leave comments or contact me via my Email Address.

My second Physio appointment on Wednesday didn’t go so well and to say I was un-impressed would have been an understatement.  I was dismissed after 20mins because the Physio could not find anything wrong!!

So Thursday night I gave running a try again.  Everything was fine until I hit 2km, where my knee started up. Since ‘nothing is wrong’ (according to the Physio) I kept running to see if I could shake it off.  Probably not the smartest decision I have ever made…it gradually got worse until I stopped at 5km.

The Knee is a funny thing. There is only a problem when I am running…not when walking, crosstraining, jumping or any other activity.

I saw a new Physio today - Jim from Physio Active, recommended by the Pavilion Gym Manager.  He was great!  Jim has confirmed there is no damage in my knee, it is not being caused by my ITB, rather it seems to be a biomechanical problem, steming from a weakness in my right glutes/hip flexes.  Jim strapped my knee in pretty pink (see my photo web page) and I will try running again today to see if this makes a difference.

FINGERS CROSSED!!

This is the start of week three…which means only 13 weeks until the London Marathon.  Will I be ready?

It’s been 10 days now and I am still unable to run without developing a discomfort in my right knee.  I went for a Gait Analysis on the weekend, which shows my running shoes are correct and my running style is good.  I am advised that my ITB is tight, which could be causing ‘Runners Knee’ and there looks like there may be a problem in my hips and back.  

I’ve been advised to see an Osteopath. I’ve got Physio again tommorrow, though I don’t hold much hope at getting anything diagnosed.  I am suspecting my Physio is not exactly the greatest!  In the meantime, I am going to build on core strength, start Pilates twice a week, continue to crosstrain and religiously use the Foam Roller I purchased for my hamstrings & ITB to massage out the tension (and boy george, does that hurt with a capital H!).

I am trying to stay positive…though I admit at turning green with envy everytime a runner passes me by.

I’m feeling a little deprived!  I haven’t been able to run all week…I tried Monday but my knee was still sore, so I cross trained Monday & Tuesday.  Wednesday I thought I would give it another shot, ran 3km before I  got an entirely new pain under my knee and had to stop.

I visited the Physio last night to have my knees and my achilles checked out.  I guess I was hoping to walk away with some kind of solution or atleast answer to my problems, neither of which I recieved.  I have another Physio appointment next week.  In the mean time, do I run? Should I change my training? How do I prevent further injury?  All I want to do is run!

So…I’ve decided to cancel the 22km road run tomorrow.  I will try a gentle run at the gym…if all goes well I will try to squeeze in some distance at a stupidly slow pace :o(

Week one of training ended with a true test of my commitment…the first slow, long endurance run.

Dragging yourself out of a toasty warm bed early on a Saturday morning, only to catch a train into London Bridge to run 22km along the River Thames in -5 degrees takes a heck of a lot of motivation!!  It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, especially running in knee length tights.   It called for an emergency trip to the runners store later that afternoon for some winter running kit, including long tights. I will be better prepared next week, but let’s hope it is a little warmer than -5 degrees!!

P.S. The trip to the Sports Therapist went well on Friday.  Seems my achilles is fine, it is actually the muscles on the front of my shins causing the discomfort in the back of my heels.  I did get a painful knee after my 22km on Saturday that called for plenty of ice and anti-inflamatory cream.  An easy short run tonight should let me know how it is fairing up.

Yesterday was day one of week one.  That means I have 16 weeks until the London Marathon and 21 weeks until Edinburgh Marathon!!

I went for my first training run last night - an easy 10km with a couple of km hard sprints at the end.  I wasn’t the only one getting serious at the gym, the guy on the treadmill next to me looked like he was going to burst a vessel or something in his efforts!  I feel kinda proud that I can keep moderately composed during a hard session :o)  I really don’t think the “wild cockatoo with its tail being pulled” look works too well on me.

Anyway, I met another London Marathon Runner on my tour of China.  Nothing like a little bit of friendly competition huh?  I wonder if I can convince Ben to run in costume with me….?