Enforced rest

It seems things aren’t going so well currently. After struggling through the last 3 weeks (which in itself included a week of non-running to rest my hip) I’ve now been advised to rest some more. I’ve been to see the physio about my knee and been working on some exercises to remedy a biomechanical imbalance which seems to be working. However, she’s now more concerned about my right hip (as am I) which is now painful to run on and uncomfortable to walk on resulting in a slight limp. So I have more exercises to do to try to stretch out the hip joint and see if it frees up.

I’ve got another appointment next Wednesday, but I’m thinking that if it’s no better (which after a week of more or less no running (I did a few miles to work on Tuesday and it was really quite painful) it doesn’t seem to be) I may go to the GP to see about some other form of remedy.

Either way, my running is not going quite to plan at present which is annoying as I feel like I approached the build up nice and steadily and have been rewarded with a succession of niggles and injuries. I’m rather looking forward to being able to go on a long run and not be worried about which bit is going to be sore for the whole run. Maybe at my age I’m asking too much, but I hope not.

Taking it easy

Last week was a (welcome) rest week with distances reduced and my legs given a chance to recover a bit. Only did 3 runs – 4 miles and 8 miles to work on Tuesday and Thursday, both of which were relatively fast, and around 6 miles on Friday round Hyde Park in London as I was down there for a meeting with work.

It was nice to have some variety, good to find a decent bit of greenery in central London and a relief not to be running on hills for a change. I did the run in my 5-finger shoes which is always a bit different. I also had a pretty heavy pack with my laptop and overnight gear in it. A novel way of cooling off after the run was provided by a dip in the Serpentine Lido, putting in around a kilometre of swimming.

I had anticipated a run on Sunday morning as I was away with Angie and no kids but both Friday and Saturday nights were somewhat fuelled by beer and so on Sunday morning my bed seemed a far better option. As I keep telling myself, it’s when you’re resting that you get stronger!