When I first started running, or rather, when I first started admitting that I was running, I was instantly flooded with a barrage of well-intended advice. Most of it useful, and pretty much all of it geared towards preventing me getting injured (I clearly look like I break easily..!!). The advice which was flung my way with varying degrees of force included:
1. Give up...! The most common piece of advice from those closest to me...! Reasons varied from the fact that I already spent of my time running around like a headless chicken trying to fit a million things into each day (and therefore constantly being late for EVERYTHING, something that drives my boyfriend slightly mad...) and had no time for new hobbies, to the fact that it would cripple my knees/ back/ feet.. and potentially all other body parts which could be broken as I trip over my completely unco-ordinated limbs.
Each of these points I can argue against (with the exception of my co-ordination, or lack of it!). Running, clearly, will make me faster. I get around faster, I can do more stuff! Plus running helps me think, so my days will be more planned, structured and organised (or at least, they would be if I actually thought about that kind of stuff when I run rather than my usual daydreams..). As for the crippling effects, they can easily be prevented with the correct shoes/ running form/ cross training/ conditioning/ stretching... etc etc, as per advice given within the lists below! In fact, reading the latest Womens Running magazine, I actually found evidence that running can protect your joints - perfect :-)
So, that piece of advice I could happily ignore without any regrets. The rest of it? Well, that can be divided into:
a) Advice I took and appreciated.
b) Advice I thought was good, but still ignored - and then regretted not taking.
c) Advice I genuinely intended to take.. but just never got around to. Until it was too late...
Now, seeing a physiotherapist for an injury assessment fell very firmly into the last of those categories. I could very clearly see why this was a good idea - in fact, it was something that I was keen to do, thinking it would be interesting to see which bits of my body 'worked' and which bits didn't, and have a detailed, effective plan of injury prevention personally (and professionally!) tailored to me.
'Keen to do' and 'will do', however, are two very different things, and the 'book an appointment with a physio' remained sitting quietly at the bottom of my 'To Do' list. I will be honest here and admit the main reason for this was money - an appointment may not be expensive (the ones I looked at ranged from £25 to £40 for an initial consultation), but it did involve spending cash.. and somehow other things always seemed to crop up first! New shoes (category A, along with some gait analysis, and best buy ever!), new running jacket, new running socks, energy bars and gels to try.. the list of things a runner can spend money on is surprisingly endless!
That was, however, until I had an email (via Twitter) from Velocity Physio in Brighton. I had won a free appointment! Perfect timing, I thought - my weekly mileage was now the highest it had ever been and I had been starting to become slightly more concerned about whether my legs would be able to keep up with the pace. Not that concerned, obviously, as it took me 2 weeks to get around to organising the appointment. Which was booked for 3 days after I broke. Yes, thats right.. After! Having made the appointment, I headed off down to the gym, spent 45 minutes doing some intervals on the treadmill... and got off unable to use my left knee!
So, injury prevention turned into injury treatment... with an assessment of how and why my knee ended up dysfunctional thrown in for good luck. And I have to say, the assessment was great - probably more so if I had booked this a few weeks previously and therefore avoided the knee problem (I had inflamed the tendon attaching my quads to just below my knee apparently!), but still, useful for future reference.
The reason for my 'broken' knee? Well, it was largely down to my left hip - which was apparently more than a little stiff, in fact, it wasn't moving at all..! - and my left foot, which had a collapsed arch (yep, half of me is flat-footed, great!). My knee just got caught in the middle - and with the large amount of work it was having to do, it couldn't cope!
I also found out that my left leg was basically lazy. Possibly partly because half of it appeared to be dysfunctional, but it was definitely letting my right leg do all the hard work while it just flopped along beside. Not that it looked like that when I ran (I hope??!!), but as it pumped up and down in imitation of effective running, it was clearly just having a laugh. Put it through a strength test however (not a very hard one - I simply had to try and hold my leg in position while the physio applied pressure), and the weaknesses start to show! And there were quite a few - and a large difference between limbs!
Now that I know my areas of weakness, I know what to do once I am back running. Unfortunately, this is not yet and I am once again resigned to the pool while I panic about getting fit enough in time for the marathon. So, my biggest piece of advice to runners who have not yet had an injury? MAKE FRIENDS WITH A PHYSIO!! It may cost... but its cheaper, and certainly less frustrating, than getting 'fixed' once things do go wrong!!
For those runners who have had an injury whilst working up to a race, how did you get on with cross-training to fitness - anyone have advice on this for me?? :-)
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