Me no like!

Monday morning blues compounded by a running injury showing obstinate behaviour.What a terribly lethal combination.

I have let Mr MTSS know clearly-'you win,I lose' (for now,at least!). But he's having a good time annoying me, hurting me and making my life miserable.Its been two weeks and more and I'm still grimacing when I walk or even when I stand up.

I am not just frustrated.I am terribly annoyed with myself.I have been dumped unceremoniously into the rester's bench (?) with a big red time-out card to boot.I have reason to believe I was neither cautious nor smart enough and brought on this injury to myself.And that is making it worse:(

I have spent time thinking about how I brought on the injury and how I could have avoided it. Did I really think I could run one ultra after another without training well enough for such distances?(But,damn,I felt pretty okay post those runs-Bhatti Ultra 50k and the Bangalore Ultra 75k)

Did I ignore the pain when it first showed up?Did I do the necessary stretches ? No, I just stretched my luck too far and then ran out of it.The balloon just burst!!!Boom!

The mental game involved in trying to take this injury in my (wobbly) stride is getting to be quite an ordeal.Withdrawal symptoms?

I am over the denial stage now.I just didn't think it will get this bad when I went and ran/paced the ADHM 2015 in pain.I didn't think I would be able to run 21.097 kms with a MTSS. But the mind and body don't always work in tandem! I ran that half marathon and now I  can't even walk 20

metres without cringing.

Denial over.Acceptance now.I am reconciled to the fact that my favourite feel good activity is out of bounds for a long while now.Restlessness,anger,irritation,boredom,low self esteem are a few symptoms I can list off hand.As I plonk myself on my bed at home,trying to read the daily news,browse on the internet,read a random book,listen to some music,I just can't get the darned injury off my head.I go to work, get up from my chair only when I can't help it, keep my leg raised and curse myself!

My next stop will be to read about amateur runners like yours truly and their remarkable comeback stories.I am already  being reminded about the importance of staying positive through this time.

I am doing all that is required to be done.Been to the sports medicine doctor,got the MRI done,visiting a qualified physiotherapist,popping the calcium and anti inflammatory pills-the works!!!

I haven't been advised the exercises which I eventually will be,to be done in the confines of my home.Once I can stand on my feet without hurting,I will probably start doing some kettle bell training.When I am given the green signal by my doctor and my body, I will start cross training.That would essentially mean cycling a little.I can't swim and neither do I have access to a heated pool to indulge in fancy things like aqua running (I read there's something called an anti-gravity treadmill too!Ooooh!)

But I know none of this will satisfy me,because all I want to do is be on the road,in the park,on the trail ,on my feet-running! I don't want to run fast or run a race,I just want to run the way I like to,feel the endorphins rush,feel alive!!

By the way , I love Runner's World! It does manage to lift my spirit. Here's something I read this morning which made me smile!It's from an old 2010 article, but I guess it still makes sense.

In the mid-1970s, Runner's World medical editor George Sheehan, M.D., confirmed that he was hardly the only runner beset by injuries: A poll of the magazine's readers revealed that 60 percent reported chronic problems

 "One person in 100 is a motor genius," who doesn't have injuries, concluded the often-sidelined Sheehan. To describe himself and the rest of us, he turned to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "There is a crack in everything God has made." With all the amazing advancements in sports medicine, you'd think that our rates of shin splints and stress fractures would have dropped since Sheehan's era. But 30 years after running's first Big Boom, we continue to get hurt. A recent runnersworld.com poll revealed that 66 percent of respondents had suffered an injury in 2009.

Still, I figured medical science must have uncovered lots of little-known prevention secrets. So I went searching for them. After reviewing hundreds of published papers, I was surprised to find few answers. Most of the studies are retrospective, looking back. A few are prospective, looking forward. Even then, they're not the gold standard, which are randomized, controlled, double blind experiments. And conflicting results make it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions. I learned, for example, that running injuries can be caused by being female, being male, being old, being young, pronating too much, pronating too little, training too much, and training too little. Studies also indicate that the "wet test" doesn't help shoe selection, old shoes don't offer less cushioning than newer shoes, and leg-length discrepancies don't cause injuries (but too-little sleep does). Oh, here's good news: To get rid of blisters, you should drink less and smoke more.”

Hahaha!

Here's the link to the article if you want to read it:

http://www.runnersworld.com/health/the-10-laws-of-injury-prevention

Basically,running injuries are unavoidable and I am not unique.

But yes,I am once bitten twice shy.So I will be more careful in future and try to follow more of the “tips” on prevention of running injuries once this one is behind me.

I know I'll come out of this injury stronger and wiser!

But till such time, I will do what I can do best in the given circumstances-whine to my heart's content,get fat, be grumpy and be generally unhappy.

Period!

Me no like:(

P.S- MTSS is Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome