I'm back, and I'm happy!!!!! All those weeks of waiting until my Iliopsoas Tendinitis cleared, have finally come to an end. Today I ran 9,47 km, and yesterday 3,8 km. My injury spot is a little tender today, but it's not the debilitating pain I experienced before. Suddenly I feel I have my life back again, and I can look forward to running, marathons, ultras and, most importantly, the MdS in 2010.On Monday last, I had another appointment with Dr. Hasler, and he was very happy with the progress I am making. He gave me another Corticosteroid injection (which, for some reason, hurt like bloody hell), and suggested I stay off the running until this weekend. He threatened me with my life, if I ran more than 10 km at a time for the next few weeks, which I found a fair distance, considering I hadn't run for weeks.
On Tuesday, I came down, alone, to our holiday house in Carona, in the south of Switzerland, near the town of Lugano. Due to staff problems in our business, we still cannot come down together. After not having had a break since the beginning of January, and having had 60 bodies since then, a break from it all was most called-for. I set off south on the two-hour motoring journey through the Alps, very happy to finally having the chance to escape death for a while. There had been a lot of snow over the weekend in the south, and in the Alps between Chur and Carona, so the scenery on the way was a winter wonderland. I took photos on the way, and will upload them to my flickr.com site as soon as I get back to Chur (here in Carona, we are not setup for speedy Internet connection, and any access is via an analogue telephone system - slow, at the best of times).
I've been working out in gym five days a week lately, and I am feeling great again on that score. Not having been running, I had the time. However, now that I am back into my favourite passion, I can see, that I am going to have to make time for gym, and indeed, early in the morning. I'm not much of an early-morning person, but a little discipline is all I need to get me up three morning's a week and into the gym. At least, then, I shall have the late afternoons free for running, and I can do an extra gym session at a reasonable hour at the weekends. Well, that's the theory - we'll see if I can implement it.
The weather here in the south has been spectacular since I've been here - deep blue skies, snow still lying all around (although melting quickly), and temperatures during the day of up to 16°C. I've been to gym three times already (I have a subscription to a fantastic gym here in Lugano, as well as the one in Chur), and feel good. Yesterday, I decided I would try out the treadmill. It's not quite the weekend, but what the hell do a few days matter. I did 3,8 km, and discovered something - my running form on the treadmill is very different to that I have on tracks and roads, in that my forward foot comes down at the front, whereas on the road, it's more towards the heel. Now, considering that my Iliopsoas Tendinitis started at the beginning of winter (November, here) when I began doing more treadmill work instead of outside, I've come up with the theory, that this is the cause of my injury. Even yesterday on the treadmill, I noticed, that my injury spot was a little tender when I ran as I am wont to do on the treadmill; I immediately made a point of coming down on my heel instead, and the tension was relieved. Methinks I have have found something here. I had no pain, but rather a tenderness in the injury spot.
This morning, I woke, full of excitement about the prospect of running properly again. After reading several chapters of a large book I have on the Marathon des Sables, I finally rose at around 10:45 a.m. (what luxury), and, by midday, was down at the lake (Lago di Lugano) in Morcote, and ready for a five-kilometre slow run. I was very good, and did lots of stretching first, before starting all my electronic equipment, and set off towards Melide long the road next to the lake shore. I deliberately kept my pace slower than usual (my final average pace was 5'15" per kilometre, which, for me, is amazingly slow), and had a really great run. The tension in the region of the recalcitrant tendon was ever-present, but I did not have any pain. At the 2,5-km point, I decided not to turn around, but to go further, as I was enjoying it so much. Here, too, I had my small digital camera with me, and snapped off a lot of shots on the way, which I will, likewise, upload when I am back in Chur. When I finally returned to the car, I had covered 9.4 km, and I was in my element. Not exactly a marathon, but, after nearly two months of hardly any running at all, I was pretty proud of myself. As I sit here typing this, the tendon in question is still a little tense, despite earlier icing, but I put this down to the treadmill from yesterday. Tomorrow I shall be out on the road again to test my legs, and see how I really am.
Running most certainly is a true passion in my life. Yesterday, as I started off on the treadmill (even thought I HATE that thing), I suddenly felt all those wonderful emotions associated with running again, and the tears started welling up beyond belief. It made me realise, just how much this sport means to me.
I'm now very excited about tomorrow and my next run, and I just hope, that I am finally ready to get back into training again. I've had to cancel my participation on the Paris and Zürich maras, due to no training, but have planned others for later on in summer and autumn.
I love running so much.
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