One week on from running my first half marathon and I am on self imposed exile on the IC!
In the weeks leading up to Southend I had a slight niggle with both knees, no pain, just a dull ache below and behind the kneecap. I completed the half marathon and had a great day but in the few days after the race it became clear that i needed to stop running for a while to give my knees a chance to recover.
I saw a physio during the week who has recommended some exercises to improve core strength, as this is something I have never really thought about, and also advised a few days of ibuprofin to counter any inflammation.
This set me thinking, why this had happened now? I had been running 3 times a week since last summer, slowly building up the distance in the three months leading up to Southend. I stuck rigidly to the 10% rule and everything was going to plan.
Aside from a lack of core strength, the most likely explanation I can come up with is my shoes. I had been running in my current pair of Brooks for about 7 months and they had clocked up over 700km, all of them on the road. I had bought a new pair of shoes to replace them but had only started breaking them in on a few short runs, preferring to stick with the pair i knew for longer runs and the half marathon itself.
It's so easy to not notice shoes wearing out, especially that go to pair that you have got so comfortable with.
So now it will be a few weeks of rest, no running, sticking to the core exercises from the physio, and trying not to go up the wall reading about everyone else's running exploits.
I have an entry for the Adidas City Run in July but I am now thinking of sitting it out and concentrating on the Royal Parks half in October.
I'm hoping to make it clear just how much running affects my mental well-being and see if that catches his attention.
Half marathon trail
Catching Up!