This blog post is continuing on from last weeks (4 month injury update part 2), as there was so much to talk about I had to put it in two posts. After this, I had made it to the end of cross country season, but to be honest it should have come to an end a lot sooner. Here I was, with my body in a mess and low positivity at having a horrific end to a season, following the best opening season ever. In the end my hip flexor issue meant I was unable to do pretty much anything for about 6 weeks. Everything I did seemed to hurt it... cycling hurt, swimming hurt, running hurt, gym work hurt... even walking hurt. This was during easter, so I guess it gave me more time to revise, but it did not help me mentally... I felt pretty lost to be honest. Stress levels were pretty high from work and I had no sport to turn to. This was hard. After these hard six weeks, I could slowly start doing some cross training. However if you are wondering about my foot and shin, this was still going on. During the six weeks off I also had my foot scanned because I was pretty sure it was a stress fracture. It turned out to be 'nothing' apparently, however there was certainly something very wrong with my foot at one point... because I couldn't walk on it. At this point I was happy because I could see progress because my shin, foot and hip flexor pain had gone. The next step was returning to running. Running was going great, until on my third run in, my shin started to hurt. At this point, I was pretty fed up. I was about to start my exams so as you can imagine, I probably wasn't the happiest I've ever been. I tried on and off running through exams, having several days between each run and not running for long, but still the pain in my shin wasn't going anywhere. Finally after exams, I sought more help for my shin. This time, I feel like I really got an answer. My physio said, I almost definitely had a stress fracture in my shin back in March... and I really wasn't surprised to hear this. Luckily, my shin in June was not still a stress fracture and the verdict was, it probably just needs a few more weeks rest. I was very happy with this and rested up. A month on, and I'm progressing on my walk/ run programme and I can see hope. I can see a future. Its going to be a slow process, but every step I'm thankful for. The excitement I get before every run is pretty great! My fitness is clearly lacking, but I expected this and I'm hoping when I get back to more structured training, it shouldn't take too long to return.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and I am hoping that others can learn from it. Pushing through my injury, got me nothing. I broke my body more and was rewarded with some shocking race results. G x
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Nearly four months ago, I was struck with some shin pain. I had been feeling it for the last two weeks, but I had made myself push through because I had just had some of my best cross country races of my life. I was hoping this good form would continue and I was worried some time off would damage my fitness. The pain started just before nationals but I managed to make it to the race, because I had been looking forward to it all year... however this is where more problems started to arise. I had a pretty shocking race at Nationals and as I was running around the course, nothing in my body hurt, my legs just felt dead. However the following day I couldn't walk up the stairs because of my hip flexors. I didn't know at the time, but they just felt really tight are were very very sore. At the same time my shin was also still sore... I mean I couldn't even touch it, without serious pain. I don't know whether I had a bad race because actually my body was falling apart and the adrenaline was hiding the pain or I just had a bad race. Two weeks later I had inter counties, a race I had worked so hard to qualify for at Kent Champs (blog post here). I will say this now... I should NEVER have raced inter counties! My body was not up for it. This was a race I had been so excited for and instead it turned into a race, I hated every second of. The expression on my face in the photos say a thousand words, because at the time, I wanted to be anywhere but that field in Loughborough. Yes this may sound negative, but its the truth. The pain I was in and the lack of running I had done the previous few weeks (because of my injuries), just made me feel pretty rubbish! Again this was another horrific race. However this time when I crossed the line, I discovered yet another pain... this time in my foot. Right so for any of you losing track, yes... I currently have three injuries at this point. My shin, my hip flexors and my foot. So on 17th March, I find myself in Leeds at the English Schools. Right now, you are reading the perfect example of what not to do when you are injured. Again my stubbornness, stopped me from withdrawing from the English Schools... why? Well this was my first and last opportunity to race at the English Schools and was not something I was going to give up lightly. This race wasn't actually too bad... I mean I would have liked a lot more from it but I'll take my result with a bit of a smile (you can read the blog post here).
... Next week, I'll be posting part 2 of this blog, where you'll get to find out more about my injury journey and where I am now. G x Hi everyone! It’s Ellen here, over from TeenRunner. In short, I’m a teenage runner, fitness-lover, and blogger who lives just around the corner from Grace, so naturally we often link up for runs, bike rides, and ridiculously hard gym classes (my stomach still hasn’t recovered from the last ‘abs attack’ session!). However, if any of you have been following me on Instagram (@teenrunnerblog) or Twitter (@teenrunnerblog) recently, you’ll know that two months ago I was diagnosed with a stress fracture on my second metatarsal. To put it simply, it was (and still is) a nightmare. Now, I understand that the mere thought of a stress fracture is a worrying prospect for ANY fitness enthusiast, and so reading about my experiences for the entirety of this blog post probably isn’t the best thing you could be doing on this Sunday morning…but I think you should give it a chance. Not just because I’ve written it (although that’s reason enough to continue), but because at one point everyone is going to be pushed down by an injury, so I want to give my opinions on rehab for you to bear in mind in the future. Phase 1- Acceptance This injury recovery process has been a roller-coaster ride. Metaphor yes, but I can promise you there’s no exaggeration here. Therefore I’m going to pick out a few aspects of the last two months, because even I don’t have the patience to go through everything…and I’m the one that’s actually got the injury! For the first two weeks, I found myself in a boot and unable to do anything aerobic. With tendon and muscular injuries, it’s true that you can cross train straight away. But with a bone…well you’ve got to let that have some complete healing time. Okay, so the boot did have its positives, but on the whole those 14 days were extremely hard for me. I’m used to being outside, going to the gym, heading out for a session, so when I was limited to basic arm and core work it took a LOT of getting useful. Taking this into consideration, the best way to deal with it is to accept the injury. Yes, I was angry, sad, frustrated at first (especially since I qualified for the English Schools the day before), but after a week or so I guess the process of recovery had set in. This may sound mildly insignificant, but it worked for me! I really did feel a pang of sadness every time we drove past the track, but I soon became focused on the beginning of rehab. Roll on Phase 2. Phase 2- The Long Middle Ground I’ll let you know now that I’m currently in phase two, so this is hot off the press. From four weeks onwards the doctor gave me the all clear to start cross training. As you would expect, I went a little crazy on this. Tuesday saw me racing up and down the pool, Wednesday on the spin bike, Thursday with the aqua-belt. But unfortunately my foot did not react too well. It hurt a little, and kept swelling up. Hence why I’ve now restarted the training programme again- it’s coming up to week 7 and I’ve only been managing about 40 lengths kicking at one time. I guess what I’m trying to say is that even when you think rehab will go smoothly, it quite often doesn’t. For example the week before last I had been spinning every day, but over the past few days I’ve had to stop as it has been aggravating the foot. Spinning is go-to option for most injured runners- but not for me. I’ve personally found the uncertainty really difficult. Truth to be told, I’m constantly worrying about my foot, and am always spending extra time at the gym to keep some level of fitness up. But it’s not all bad, I promise. I can’t wait to get back running, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed going to the gym. It has provided me with an aura of self-confidence, and it’s always reassuring to see yourself progress. Once I reached the stage where aerobic workouts were possible, things got a lot better! Phase 3- Heading into the unknown And here I reach the end of my scrawl. Phase three indicates the slow start to ‘proper’ training. The jogs, the elliptical, and of course, at one point the training session. I’m a good five weeks away yet, but I do know that when I return it will be very gently. Injuries don’t last forever, and if any of you are unfortunate enough to be suffering with one at the moment, I bet that you’ll be a thousand times stronger (both mentally and physically) when you return. Good luck! I would just like to say a huge thank you to Grace for letting me write on her website. If you do fancy following me, the links are below. Grace’s Sunday post is up on my blog right now- definitely worth a read!
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HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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