Aaaargggghhhh I am injured and it is only six weeks to Prague!!!

Don’t ask me what I did because I don’t know, I don’t remember doing anything to hurt my back but last Thursday when I went out for my run early in the morning it was pretty painful – you know that part where it always hurts right in your lower back?  For me it is always on the right-hand side only which I put down to the fact that I had a patella tendon realignment on my right knee in 1998 – clearly I do not know whether this is really a contributing factor or not!!!

Anyway so I persevered with my run on Thursday despite it being pretty painful because it was not actually getting any worse so surely it would just click and be alright right? WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!  By the end of Thursday it was pretty painful all the time – but this was mainly due to sitting in a meeting room all day in the world’s most uncomfortable chair and actually nothing to do with insisting on running whilst injured.  You see where I am going with this?

Finally I googled “running and backpain” – I actually wanted Google to tell me I was right to continue running whilst my back hurt because the pain was not a running related injury.  Instead I stumbled upon a neat article which suggested that I am in fact experiencing a running related injury and then asked a number of questions to establish the cause of my injury:

1. Have you been travelling recently – we all know that your body recovers and repairs when you sleep right – so I guess if you are not sleeping well because you are staying in hotels you are giving your body less time to recover
   

2. What surfaces are you running on – if you constantly pound hard pavements you are putting more pressure on your joints than if you are running on softer surfaces
   

3. Is it time for new shoes – manufacturers recommend you run 300 – 500 miles on your shoes before changing them and nowadays people tend to recommend you cycle through several pairs of shoes at a time
   

4. Have you recently upped your mileage, started training for your first marathon or are you about six weeks into a marathon training cycle?

Ok, there were a few more questions but you get the picture – GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!!!

• I have been travelling for work four out of the last five weeks, staying in hotels in the Middle and Far East – so not only am I not sleeping great in hotels, but I am also dealing with jet lag – just when I get sorted I get to go home!!
  

• At home we are blessed with some fantastic places to run off-road and it is all pretty muddy and squishy at this time of year, out here I have been running consistently on roads and pavements
  

• Alright so I do cycle through a number of pairs of shoes – Nike Wildhorses for off-road, Mizuno Wave Riders for the road, On Cloudflow for the treadmill but Strava has been telling me for ages that they all need changing!
  

• And of course I am right at the top end of my training cycle for the Prague Marathon!!!

So now I know this is a running related injury and I know I need to stretch and rest – and this is where I backed right off and rested right?  Except I didn’t!!  By Sunday I decided that my back felt a lot better so popped out for a quick run to see how it felt – suffice to say it didn’t go brilliantly (why would it – I had allowed myself two whole days of rest!) so I tried the exercise bike instead – which induced some eye-watering cracking and pain.  I had a little pity party and ran through all the worst-case scenarios – which inevitably ended with me not being able to run Prague.

After that I had a long text chat with my running buddy (the bestest running buddy in the business) who also happens to be injured.  We talked about how frustrated we are and talked about how we are literally falling apart and then she repeated the pep talk her husband had given her – which I would no doubt have had in person had I been at home.  We both said we were being very sulky and grumpy and I admitted I may have visited the Cheesecake Factory to cheer myself up!

This morning I got up early and went to the gym and walked on the treadmill – yes I just walked.  No pressure, I didn’t even try to run because finally it had clicked – I was so worried about training for Prague I just couldn’t allow myself the time to rest even though all I was doing was making things worse.  So I spent an hour listening to Ant Middleton this morning whilst walking and he is right – your mind really is your own worst enemy and patience really is a virtue!!

Jane x

P.s. I would like to thank the Cheesecake Factory who made sulking a bit more enjoyable, Ant Middleton for his wise words that finally hit home and as always my running buddy and her super human husband for always being there even if I am thousands of miles away!!!!

Flying long haul messes with your mind and your body!!!

So I was busy writing a blog post about “Am I really a runner if I don’t race?” but then I had pretty much the worst long run on the treadmill ever last night – a combination of jet lag, the after effects of a 14 hour flight and the hottest hotel gym in the world so I thought I would talk about that instead!

Let’s start with last night – the Prague Marathon is just over 2 months away and so I am right at the most intense period of my training schedule and right now I am traveling a lot for work, last year I took 28 flights, this year I am going to spend 4 out of the next 5 weeks in the Middle East and Asia – juggling a full-time job, travel and training for another marathon is a tough ask.

Had I been at home, yesterday would have been a long slow distance run of 2 hours 30 with the last 20 minutes at goal race pace.  But I am not at home – I am 6745 miles and 8 time zones away from home! Because of this my coach said just do 1 hour 30 on the treadmill – easy right? Well that is what I thought but it was the hardest run I have had in ages – about an hour in I even had to give up listening to my audiobook – seems even Ant Middleton’s dulcit tones couldn’t help me out!  I found myself endlessly repeating “one more minute” whilst counting down the seconds!

So why does long haul travel make you feel so bad?

• Firstly I guess travel is just tiring, flying is not just about the time spent in the air, flying is the time it takes to get to the airport, dropping your bags, getting through security, waiting to board, not to mention clearing customs on arrival, collecting your bags and getting to your final destination – as well as the flight itself.

• A 14 hour flight and an 8 hour time difference mucks up your body clock – as if travelling through 8 time zones wasn’t enough on board the plane you are expected to eat and sleep at funny times.  On the way out here we were given dinner at 11pm and then meant to sleep, we were told to keep the blinds down though because as we flew further east we were actually in broad daylight.  Finally we were served breakfast 2 hours before landing – fine if we were still on UK time but it was already 3pm at our destination – no wonder your body is confused right?

•   Change in temperature – I know we are having unseasonably warm weather for February back home (pretty sure we are going to get one more icy blast before spring is finally sprung though!) but Singapore is different gear hot and humid. So here’s me used to being bundled up in layers of jumpers and coats in the cold, damp of the UK winter and suddenly I am in Singapore and it is 34 degrees with 50% humidity so I am bound to feel a bit out of sorts and generally just unused to the heat right?

So what can you do about it?

I am sure we all know that we are meant to try and stay awake once you get where you are going but recently I read an article in which some pro-cycling teams gave their tips on flying long haul:

• Start to acclimatise to the time zone before you go – ok so this might be slightly impractical but they did suggest starting to shift your bedtime and mealtimes nearer to those of your destination a few days before you travel – I get the idea just not sure how practical that would be whilst still working and managing three kids!

• Watch what you eat on the plane – plane food is not always the best and as I mentioned before you can end up eating at some fairly odd times so best not to rely on what you are given and take some snacks of your own and make sure you stay hydrated whilst flying. This one I can do - the thought of not having food with me sends me into a blind panic!

• Get some rest on the plane – this is a fairly easy one for me – as my colleagues will attest I can sleep anywhere and am usually asleep before we even take off – I don’t know but something about waiting for other people to board wears me out!!  If you struggle to sleep try a sleep mask, earphones and comfy clothes to see if that helps.

• Finally when you get where you are going, get out and get some fresh air if is still daylight – this sends a message to your body that it is still daytime and not time to sleep.  Oh and make sure you eat at the proper mealtimes – again this helps to reset your body clock.

Some of these tips have really helped me - if only to make me more mindful of why I just had the worst session ever!! For me, running really forces my body and mind to acclimatise to the changes in temperature and to adjust my circadian rhythm – just being tired at the right time really helps me reset. 

Whilst there are a lot of things you can do to minimise the effects of travelling long-haul it can still feel pretty tough for a couple of days, with that in mind I am off out for an easy 5 miles this evening, hoping that it doesn’t feel as bad as last night!

Much love xx

31 Days later ....

Finally it’s February - on the one hand January feels like it has just flown by and on the other hand it feels like it has taken a bloody age!!! January is cold, dark, dreary and it will be ages before we notice it getting lighter in the mornings and the evenings and I am pretty sure the worst of the cold weather is yet to come. Maybe if we left the Christmas lights up for a little bit longer it wouldn’t be so bleak?

And as if all that weren’t bad enough - every January I feel the need to counter-balance December’s excesses (don’t we all over-indulge in December? And I did have reason because it was my birthday too!) by going dry for the entire month. This year I felt an additional punishment was in order and swore off chocolate too!!

So I spent the 31st December munching my way through an entire box of Lindor and finishing off a bottle of red - I mean I didn’t want anything to go off whilst I was abstaining and I felt it necessary to remove to all temptation - and to be honest I didn’t want the littles scoffing the Lindor!!!

I have to say I have been bloody awesome all month. I would love to be able to say some sanctimonius stuff about how much better I feel for not having had a drink all month - I mean there is something to be said for the smug feeling of waking up on a kid free Saturday morning with a totally clear head but the reality is that it is cold and dark out so it has been easy to live like a hermit and avoid all temptation by just not leaving the house.

Avoiding chocolate has been a whole lot harder - there have been some serious low points - the pre-teen sitting in front of me eating Curly Wurly was one of them . But I have been steadfast - not even a sneaky lick of the Nutella knife at breakfast!! I have, however, eaten my own body weight in biscuits this month - so if there is a shortage of custard creams in the supermarkets you know who to blame!

And now finally February is here and it has had the decency to arrive on a Friday. My over-thinking has gone into overdrive - should I have a drink, and if I have a drink what will I have - what do I most fancy after abstaining for a month - a glass of red, a nice cold Peroni or even a g&t?

Much more importantly - is it wrong to eat all the chocolate for breakfast? And what if by some incredible misfortune after a month I no longer actually like chocolate?? What if I have ruined it for myself forever? What then??

xx