Hi Blog Followers, and welcome to my weekly blog where I will talk about an injury that has stopped me running for 5 months, talk about do my head in…
For those that know me, will know that something like that will drive me crazy, but with over-pronation in my left foot, the Physio said he has seen this take up to a year if not more to come right. That comment had me give the Physio a look of WTF. Ever since I got in to this crazy Triathlon / Ironman / Ultraman idea in my head back in 2011, simply over a bet over to many beers that I could do an Ironman, I have been an avid Swimmer, Cyclist and Runner to cover the three disciplines along the way. I have had injuries and they are normally minor and more related to not stretching properly (or being to lazy to bother) and paid the price for it. After all I am 21 x 2.5 years old (give or take a few years). But this over-pronation caught me by surprise as I was doing everything right, stretching, running shoes in good condition, etc, etc.
What it is, is when the foot strikes the ground it flexes, I guess it over stretched or over flexed. But instead of curling up on the couch or giving up, it was a matter of “don’t tell me I can’t, tell me how I can”. The Physio probably thought, “great, one of those stubborn guys who can’t sit still”. After all, I was also completing a 1000 Km Challenge of either running or walking during a six month period whilst in this location, and there was no way I was going to miss out on that free T-Shirt. So I struck a deal with the Physio, I was going to power-walk, primarily on the treadmill, but on the roads when they were available. That worked and I would only run when the Physio would trial or test the progress. The problem I found was it didn’t hurt when I ran, so I would go hell for leather, but later that day I would hardly be able to walk on it. So what has changed…?
After multiple Physio visits and even a change in Physio, it eventually felt right at a visit with no grief at all. I was clocking up 15 Km’s at a time when walking, so running was reintroduced to see how it went, and it has gone well with no side effects post activity (thus far). The regime is slow and dictated to by the Physio to reign me in. I build up my power walk for the first 10 minutes from 4.0 Km/Hr to 8.0 Km/Hr, then I run at 9.0 Km/Hr for 1 minute then back to walking at 8.0 Km/Hr for 1 minute. After 10 Minutes I increase this to Run at 9.5 Km/Hr and increase the time to 2 minutes, then walk again at 8.0 Km/Hr for 2 minutes. After another 10 minutes I increase the speed by another 0.5 Km/Hr and the time of running / walking by another minute and continue doing this increase every 10 minutes until I’m done. But the Physio won’t let me go past 11.0 Km/Hr just yet, I normally go at 12+ Km/Hr and sometimes push it to 15 Km/Hr, no wonder the Physio is holding me back. So far so good.
However the Physio still has me walking only when on roads due to uneven surfaces, but is likely to change that soon. Just in time to gain my free T-Shirt for the 1000 Km Challenge as I’ve only got 60 Km’s to go and it’s been power walking the whole way through.
Stay tuned team as I keep you updated, regards John Humphries (Aka UltraHumps)!
UltraHumps will be writing weekly as he continues his journey raising funds for Charitable causes.
Read Humps article from last week here:
All his previous articles are stored here:
https://www.coachray.nz/category/client-stories/ultra-humps/