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The Great Disruption
Posted by
Johnbo
,
20 June 2011
·
228 views
As it was all coming together for the Gold Coast, so it all came spectacularly off the rails a couple of weeks ago in the Homebush 10 km. After an earlier 4 months off due to a Plantar Tear .... despair set in!
Flailing about trying to put the pieces back together, I hoped I might be able to rescure something and still front up next week. But there was dawning realisation and acceptance that I needed first to identify and break the intractable pattern I have been in now for at least 10 months. Big Picture focus. Not small and short term.
Reading Paul Gildings recent book, which deals with much meatier issues than mine, the words in the book title still seemed to appropriately describe what I needed to do:
The Great Disruption ....Identify and then disrupt the pattern. Break the bad habits.
The Issue?
When i run, there is a pain with each foot fall, sometimes mild / sometimes acute, at the top of the leg in the butt. Sometimes it hurts like hell and results in a limp. Other times the pain recedes for the duration of the run, only to return with a vengeance at the end. And as occured in the 10 Km at Homeush, sometimes it suddenly cruels a race suddenly and completely.
From my arthritic large toe on the left foot, through to the sacrotuberous ligament, which "runs from the sacrum to the (wait for it...) tuberosity of the ischium" or as a friend so delicately put it .... "have you got a busted arse?".
The solution?
Treatment yes, and to disrupt the pattern. Short runs, sideways, backwards, grapevine running, mixed with deep water running and swimming, and core strengthening, and physio treatment, and more treatment, and more......and tentatively it seems to be helping (I am afraid to jinx it...).
So having 'discovered' running just 4 years ago, aged 43(later than most), I am beginning to re-discover 'patience'.
I got away with it for just over two years running injury free, joyfully breaking PBs in my 10 km / half marathons / marathons, believing I might just be a little invincible, and that there might not be any visible limits (yeh, sure!!)
In truth this cycle probably started just before six foot in 2010. I still managed a few good runs early last year and by continually applied band-aid solutions it took some time for my head to catch up with the body.
So despite what my tagline says about "Old dogs learning new tricks", in truth this old dog sometimes takes a long time to learn them!
My enthusiasm and my ambitions remain undiminished however: I know I can run a sub 3 hr marathon before I turn 50, and with certainty a sub 4:30 six foot in 2012....if I can remain injury clear.
The memory of my childhood home county hero, "the little man with the big heart" John Treacy as he reeled in Englishman Charlie Spedding in the Olympic Stadium to claim silver, will be summoned in the effort, along with this old dog continuing to learn a whole pile of new tricks to avoid injury!
Flailing about trying to put the pieces back together, I hoped I might be able to rescure something and still front up next week. But there was dawning realisation and acceptance that I needed first to identify and break the intractable pattern I have been in now for at least 10 months. Big Picture focus. Not small and short term.
Reading Paul Gildings recent book, which deals with much meatier issues than mine, the words in the book title still seemed to appropriately describe what I needed to do:
The Great Disruption ....Identify and then disrupt the pattern. Break the bad habits.
The Issue?
When i run, there is a pain with each foot fall, sometimes mild / sometimes acute, at the top of the leg in the butt. Sometimes it hurts like hell and results in a limp. Other times the pain recedes for the duration of the run, only to return with a vengeance at the end. And as occured in the 10 Km at Homeush, sometimes it suddenly cruels a race suddenly and completely.
From my arthritic large toe on the left foot, through to the sacrotuberous ligament, which "runs from the sacrum to the (wait for it...) tuberosity of the ischium" or as a friend so delicately put it .... "have you got a busted arse?".
The solution?
Treatment yes, and to disrupt the pattern. Short runs, sideways, backwards, grapevine running, mixed with deep water running and swimming, and core strengthening, and physio treatment, and more treatment, and more......and tentatively it seems to be helping (I am afraid to jinx it...).
So having 'discovered' running just 4 years ago, aged 43(later than most), I am beginning to re-discover 'patience'.
I got away with it for just over two years running injury free, joyfully breaking PBs in my 10 km / half marathons / marathons, believing I might just be a little invincible, and that there might not be any visible limits (yeh, sure!!)
In truth this cycle probably started just before six foot in 2010. I still managed a few good runs early last year and by continually applied band-aid solutions it took some time for my head to catch up with the body.
So despite what my tagline says about "Old dogs learning new tricks", in truth this old dog sometimes takes a long time to learn them!
My enthusiasm and my ambitions remain undiminished however: I know I can run a sub 3 hr marathon before I turn 50, and with certainty a sub 4:30 six foot in 2012....if I can remain injury clear.
The memory of my childhood home county hero, "the little man with the big heart" John Treacy as he reeled in Englishman Charlie Spedding in the Olympic Stadium to claim silver, will be summoned in the effort, along with this old dog continuing to learn a whole pile of new tricks to avoid injury!
My physio swears by single leg squats - to "build up my butt" apparently my weak butt is cause of all my ailments too.
Cheers Tropic