2010, January: the road to Molly Malone's

[El Gordo]

Thanks Dan. I finished the course because I was able to, I suppose. My two main injury incidents last winter were too severe to even walk comfortably, never mind jog, so I know for sure that yesterday's wasn't as bad. When it happened the second time last year, I literally had to hop to the pub that was mercifully very close by, to wait for M to come and get me. Yesterday's was painful, and I had hardly any strength in the calf, but it wasn't disabling in the same way.

Why not? Well. the thing I didn't mention, but should have, is that I was wearing my neoprene calf strap, and in fact have worn this on every single run I've done in the last year (apart from Monday's 9-miler, funnily enough, when I forgot to take it with me to Crawley). I wondered how much it 'saved' me yesterday, and have even wondered if not wearing it last Monday helped create the problem yesterday. It really does seem to help when I wear it.

I went for a walk up the road today (OK, I went to the pub to watch Reading-Liverpool), and it's sore, but doesn't feel too 'injured' if you know what I mean. It doesn't feel as if I've pulled or badly strained anything. It just throbs a bit. as though it's recovering from really bad cramp or similar, or even from a very long run. In a way, I'm more anxious about the knee which is more painful.

The more I ponder it, the more I'm sure there's a link between these problems and my footwear. I've been wearing the off-road Asics Trabucos recently for the snow, and on the Worth Way, and while they seem comfortable, they definitely have less cushioning. I'm much more conscious of the road surface beneath my feet than with my usual roadies, which are very cushioned.

It's a nuisance having to rest up for a few days, but I'm beginning to think this is a lucky escape rather than some terrible blow.

Might be worth me going to Sweatshop on a quiet afternoon, and getting some proper gait analysis done, to see what they conclude re choice of footwear.

In the meantime, I reckon I'll still be OK for the gym, so it needn't be an excuse to lose too much fitness.