I prepared for Wokingham Half Marathon by having a massage on the Saturday and eating correctly. Pasta for dinner, porridge for breakfast and turning down going out with family for a curry. Usually for racing or races I don’t tend to worry. The weather on route to Wokingham was rubbish with rain and wind but by the time we lined up it had settled down. I was on the start line with a couple of other Eagles to be honest you didn’t see many around compared to the results listing. We were off, all going OK but knew I needed to slow down a bit. Took on a High 5 gel at mile 5. Mile 6 my heel started moaning and was hurting more than before. I managed to get to mile 10 doing various running styles and doing some intervals to count a bit and take my mind of the pain. I also took on another high 5 gel. I decided by to do the last 3 miles run/walk style with 2 mins running, 30 secs walk which did help a little. Thanks to Simon Croyden for dropping me to the front door as I was hobbling a bit and the lift to Wokingham.
Flying finish at Wokingham (grit and termination)
On Tuesday intervals were on the plan but that was out of the question. I thought I would do a walk instead. Big mistake I was in pain. Managed 3 hobbling miles. Rest and ice in the afternoon. Tuesday evening it was back to the podiatrist to talk about the problem. He changed my orthotics which has given me a bruised heel so another adjustment was made and some padding at the back of my trainer.
Thursday there is 6 miles on the plan but the heel is still hurting so I am resting still.
Still resting on Saturday but Sunday I thought I would see how I go as the plan it said 14 miles. My husband (Jason) was doing a bike time trial in Maidenhead so our idea was that I would start there and run to his Mum’s house in Reading. The heel was a little tight to start but was going well until Reading don’t really like pavements or walkways for pedestrians. I was having to run on the road or on the grass verge. Running on the grass verge did not help me much so when I got to 11 miles and had to run downhill my knee started to play up. I turned around and managed to get up to 12 miles. Not bad going after all the pain from Wokingham. I think the idea of going to lunch kept me going, not that I could have a celebratory drink as I couldn’t as I was seeing my osteopath (Mandeep in Neals Yard Richmond) Sunday evening to get some acupuncture on my heel.
Rest was on the cards for a few days for the heel to settle down but a managed a short 2 mile walk on Tuesday with bearable pain and no hobble.
Thursday 5th March, 6 miles it said on the plan. The weather was hideous with it raining all day. I decided to try the treadmill. I remember my massage therapist Tripta saying that treadmill running could be better for you. I find the treadmill hard work so I linked up some music and Zwift to keep me company. I did a run/walk technique and managed to get up to 6 miles.
Not a great write up these couple of weeks more about my challenges that I am facing at the moment. I hope I am getting some of you reading the blog, here’s to Sunday miles, long run day and the next couple of weeks of running.
Have a good weekend all