Official Running Thread

[penny's harmonica]

What a great day to be out competing. Well done. Is it a fast course?

Thanks,love this time of year. This is the third consecutive year I've run hellingly and the weather has always been the same. The course initially climbs and peaks around 5k. The time you lose getting up the hill you make up for heading back down. It's regarded as a fast course but only if you've put in some hill work beforehand. Everyone should have a go it's great fun.

 

[Bozza]

Having just tried a very short and steady run and done some googling/reading, I've decided I've probably got a stress fracture in my left leg.

I'm going to get it checked out ASAP.

 

[dazzer6666]

Having just tried a very short and steady run and done some googling/reading, I've decided I've probably got a stress fracture in my left leg.

I'm going to get it checked out ASAP.

You'll probably need an MRI to confirm....X-ray won't always pick it up. Whatever it is, getting it properly diagnosed is the first thing....Can't treat it otherwise

Hope it's nothing serious

 

[Bozza]

You'll probably need an MRI to confirm....X-ray won't always pick it up. Whatever it is, getting it properly diagnosed is the first thing....Can't treat it otherwise

Hope it's nothing serious

I've long suffered with what I believe are shin splints. No pain when running and none after unless something touched my shins in which case it was pretty sharp pains. When I was doing my 80 days thing, I was clearly putting a lot of strain on my legs, even though I was never pushing hard on my runs and never experienced pain in my legs until near the end when it came on suddenly one morning after a run.

Having just read about the causes, symptoms and treatments it all seems to fit very well.

I won't try any more quick "let's see if if hurts when I run" runs until I've had it looked at though!

 

[dazzer6666]

I've long suffered with what I believe are shin splints. No pain when running and none after unless something touched my shins in which case it was pretty sharp pains. When I was doing my 80 days thing, I was clearly putting a lot of strain on my legs, even though I was never pushing hard on my runs and never experienced pain in my legs until near the end when it came on suddenly one morning after a run.

Having just read about the causes, symptoms and treatments it all seems to fit very well.

I won't try any more quick "let's see if if hurts when I run" runs until I've had it looked at though!

Almost every time I have gone to a physio or consultant with an injury, it absolutely hasn't been what I thought it was.....just saying......

Hip pain - ITB
Hernia - Osteitis pubis and stress fracture
Stress fracture - tendinitis

Etc

Dr Google is basically useless

 

[jimmygull]

Hi all,

Anyone got any good experience with racing shoes for 5k distances. Planning on training with a more supportive shoe like the asics kayanos I currently have, and then switching to a lightweight shoe for race days and speed work for extra whizziness. I was considering these as they've got good reviews and seem really light https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mizuno-Wav...&qid=1473717580&sr=8-2&keywords=mizuno+ekiden

but just keen to see how any of you have got on with race specific shoes and any recommendations, cheers in advance.

 

[PWA]

Bacchus Half Marathon last Sunday.

Think alcohol should be compulsary in all runs. Great day.

Hope to see some of you at Barns Green. I'm number 007.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Christened the new Asics FujiTrabuco 4s in up and down the riverbank this morning. Lovely comfortable shoe and a nice route. Anyone else run faster off-road than on and is that normal? Without gunning it today – apart from at the end – I was faster compared with a similar run on the concrete. Or was it just one of those days?

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1357982884

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Thanks,love this time of year. This is the third consecutive year I've run hellingly and the weather has always been the same. The course initially climbs and peaks around 5k. The time you lose getting up the hill you make up for heading back down. It's regarded as a fast course but only if you've put in some hill work beforehand. Everyone should have a go it's great fun.

Flag it as a slow hilly course it'll make your performance sound even better!

 

[soistes]

Having just tried a very short and steady run and done some googling/reading, I've decided I've probably got a stress fracture in my left leg.

I'm going to get it checked out ASAP.

I sympathise, from very real and recent experience.
First: DO. NOT. RUN.
Second. Get it checked out - you might have difficulty getting referred quickly for an MRI, but an X-Ray should be no problem. As another poster said, an X-ray may not show a stress fracture, so a clear X-ray isn't a guarantee of no fracture, but depending on exactly when you did it, it may show up because the bone forms a kind of callous around the fracture when it's healing and that shows up clearly on the X-ray, if it's started to heal.
The hop test is quite a good indicator - if it's muscles or tendons you should still be able to hop on that leg. If it's a stress fracture, it will be agony to hop.
Another thing is that if you press quite hard with a single finger or thumb on the area around the injury, there should be a particularly sharp localised pain response around the point of the fracture itself.
I got a stress fracture of the fibula (the smaller of the two shin bones) when training earlier this year for the Brighton half. Turns out I probably made it a lot worse by trying to run through it and continuing to run on it for a week or so, until the pain got so bad I couldn't run at all. Got contradictory 'diagnoses' from two physios, but both of whom said they definitely didn't think it was a stress fracture (one suggested Compartment Syndrome, the other thought it was tendonitis), and who gave me a bunch of irrelevant stretches, when I really should have been resting it or walking gently at most. After about a month I went to the walk-in (hobble-in, in my case) X-ray service at Hove Polyclinic with a GP referral, and the (healing) fracture was clearly visible.
I was off running completely for nearly 3 months, and it took me an other couple to get my run fitness back (and I'm still running a good minute slower than my 5k pb, and 2-3 slower than my 10k pb).
Once it's healed you might want to get your gait and the way your running generates pressure in your legs professionally checked out. I can recommend this woman, who specialises in lower limb repetitive strain injuries in sportspeople, including runners. She's expensive but knows her stuff: http://www.brightonpodiatry.co.uk/index.htm. She gave me some temporary orthoses while I was getting back to training, and then helpfully gave my running style the all clear. The injury was just due to over-training, and ramping up the distances too quickly.

 

[Bozza]

I sympathise, from very real and recent experience.
First: DO. NOT. RUN.
Second. Get it checked out - you might have difficulty getting referred quickly for an MRI, but an X-Ray should be no problem. As another poster said, an X-ray may not show a stress fracture, so a clear X-ray isn't a guarantee of no fracture, but depending on exactly when you did it, it may show up because the bone forms a kind of callous around the fracture when it's healing and that shows up clearly on the X-ray, if it's started to heal.
The hop test is quite a good indicator - if it's muscles or tendons you should still be able to hop on that leg. If it's a stress fracture, it will be agony to hop.
Another thing is that if you press quite hard with a single finger or thumb on the area around the injury, there should be a particularly sharp localised pain response around the point of the fracture itself.
I got a stress fracture of the fibula (the smaller of the two shin bones) when training earlier this year for the Brighton half. Turns out I probably made it a lot worse by trying to run through it and continuing to run on it for a week or so, until the pain got so bad I couldn't run at all. Got contradictory 'diagnoses' from two physios, but both of whom said they definitely didn't think it was a stress fracture (one suggested Compartment Syndrome, the other thought it was tendonitis), and who gave me a bunch of irrelevant stretches, when I really should have been resting it or walking gently at most. After about a month I went to the walk-in (hobble-in, in my case) X-ray service at Hove Polyclinic with a GP referral, and the (healing) fracture was clearly visible.
I was off running completely for nearly 3 months, and it took me an other couple to get my run fitness back (and I'm still running a good minute slower than my 5k pb, and 2-3 slower than my 10k pb).
Once it's healed you might want to get your gait and the way your running generates pressure in your legs professionally checked out. I can recommend this woman, who specialises in lower limb repetitive strain injuries in sportspeople, including runners. She's expensive but knows her stuff: http://www.brightonpodiatry.co.uk/index.htm. She gave me some temporary orthoses while I was getting back to training, and then helpfully gave my running style the all clear. The injury was just due to over-training, and ramping up the distances too quickly.

Thanks for the advice.

I was definitely overdoing it through June, July and the beginning of August but I didn't feel any ill effects so kept plodding on because I'd set myself a target to do so.

It was getting better from then, even though I was walking 12-15,000 steps a day on holiday. When there was no obvious pain left I went for a short run but I knew pretty much immediately that it wasn't right so stopped. I tried the same last week and again last night. I had previously thought it was my knee but now I'm pretty sure it's my shin - one thing I did last night was really concentrate on where the pain was coming from and when.

I had decided to go and see Paul the Sports Therapist at Corals Hove, as recommended by [MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION] (and other NSC runners, possibly) but after last night I was debating whether I should just go to my GP instead as a first step. I'm still unsure which route to take - your physio stories haven't helped me there!

I just tried your hop test. I can gently hop on my bad leg. The pain builds with each hop and by the 5th, I don't want to do any more!

 

[Bozza]

Update: Seeing Paul at Coral on Thursday afternoon and have a GP call (i.e. they can't see me but can call me) on Friday evening, the first appointment that is available apparently.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Update: Seeing Paul at Coral on Thursday afternoon and have a GP call (i.e. they can't see me but can call me) on Friday evening, the first appointment that is available apparently.

Good first step. Really hope you get sorted.

As [MENTION=27279]dazzer6666[/MENTION] said Dr Google is a fraud. I thought I had plantar fasciatis, it was in fact a calf problem (which Paul gave me stretches for which meant I could run while I healed and did not have to book another visit). I thought I'd mashed my knee, it was in fact reactive tendonitis (which is now ok enough for me to go to the game tonight but am off running for a while yet - or even walking properly).

 

[CHAPPERS]

Ran up Mill Road last night on a whim. Nice and testing but horrible running next to traffic shooting along at 60! Never again.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Ran up Mill Road last night on a whim. Nice and testing but horrible running next to traffic shooting along at 60! Never again.

It is a great hill, but I rarely run up it because of that reason. I've done it during races when it's closed – or early in the morning when it's quiet, but on a weeknight I bet it's a nightmare. Fortunately I've got Mill Hill just around the corner from me which is similar (ish) and almost traffic-free.

 

[soistes]

Update: Seeing Paul at Coral on Thursday afternoon and have a GP call (i.e. they can't see me but can call me) on Friday evening, the first appointment that is available apparently.

Good stuff - depending what the physio says, might make sense to request GP referral for X-ray/scan asap.

For me the hop test was very clear (but I couldn't hop, full stop, let alone do the five that you did), but the academic literature is mixed on hop tests - see, for example:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2011/0101/p39.html (which also emphasises how difficult it can be to accurately diagnose a stress fracture).

Hopefully it's 'just' shin splints (although that can cover a multitude of different conditions), and you can get sorted quickly, but from my experience I'd definitely recommend trying to rule out a stress fracture first, if only because running on a stress fracture can cause you a serious problem with a long rehabilitation time.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I can recommend this woman, who specialises in lower limb repetitive strain injuries in sportspeople, including runners. She's expensive but knows her stuff: http://www.brightonpodiatry.co.uk/index.htm. .

I have seen her a couple of times; totally agree with your recommendation. She sorted out my plantar fasciitis around 10 years back. She is worth every penny.

 

[Curious Orange]

12.5 miles was too far to run in this morning's heat - but I did it anyway. Now I can taper down ahead of the Barns Green Half Marathon... lets hope the weather deteriorates a bit before then!!

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

12.5 miles was too far to run in this morning's heat - but I did it anyway. Now I can taper down ahead of the Barns Green Half Marathon... lets hope the weather deteriorates a bit before then!!

Never done Barnes Green but I've heard it's quite tough (undulating). What's your target time? (Weather due to get cooler over weekend.)

 

[dazzer6666]

Never done Barnes Green but I've heard it's quite tough (undulating). What's your target time? (Weather due to get cooler over weekend.)

Not really too tough.....pretty good underfoot and all the hills are runnable. I know several people who have their 1/2 PB from there. Nice friendly race.