Running Injuries

I have had a very stop start period of running since the summer. I seem to have had at least three attempts to get into a regular pattern of running but every time I have beeen hampered by something new.

My initial problems started on returning from holiday in Southwold when I got out of the car and couldn't stand straight. I was bent double and had intense pain in the lower back and all down my left leg. I couldn't drive for nearly a month the cause being sciatica. Eventually after much popping of pills and a routine of stretching exercises I eventually felt able to attempt to run. However all my stamina built up over weeks of regulaly training had gone and I felt as if I was starting to run from scratch. My breathing felt laboured and my times were slow much slower in fact.

Perhaps because of this I managed to fall over a pot hole in Newmarket Road in Bury St Edmunds. I fell in a roll but managed to crack a rib in the process. The next day I tried to run but knew I had cracked a rib as running was out of the question due to the intense needle like pain in the chest. This meant another enforced break from any training. During this period of inactivity I managed to put on an extra half stone on weight which has added to the vicious circle of inactivity extra weight and slower running times.

Recently I have got back to some regularly runs but then had a heavy cold which didn't prevent me from working but wasn't something I felt able to run through or with.

I am once again back to running but still experiencing some pain in the lower back and right leg which feels a bit like like a return to sciatic type pain. I intend trying to build up the mileage and running with a degree of dis-comfort if I can and will plan out a schedule before the end of the year hopefully to include some races though my confidence is knocked as I never know from day to day if I am going to have aches and pains in the back and legs.

Today I had intentions of heading over the fields at Horringer Suffolk but the farmer had completley ploughed away the footpath I intended to follow leaving very muddy gullies. I tried to run but had a job just standing up right so I did a u- turn back into Bury St Edmunds. I want to search out some fixed distance courses around the town to do on a regular basis over the coming winter. This will allow me to compare my times and try and do some tempo runs , injuries willing.

A perfect 2 mile course I found starts from the junction of Oliver Road and Westley Road. This circular run could be run from any start point but I cose to run along Westley Road turning left at Newmarket Road before turning left again up Oliver Road and returning past Westley School back to the start. My time for the 2 miles was a slow 17.35 but it was the quickest I could do it at a training pace at the moment

I hope to try and add some other courses between 1-10 miles which are preferable circular in the coming weeks.

On the ipod today I listened to a BBC Radio 4 podcast Clare Balding walking the length of St Oswald's Way in Northumberland. St Oswald's Way is a 97-mile route, running from Holy Island in the north, along the Northumberland coast before heading inland to Heavensfield and Hadrian's Wall. Clare Balding is a presenter I associate mostly with horse racing but she has obviously presented on a lot of other tv and radio programmes.

Northumberland is definitely on the list of most visits places. I have travelled through on route to Scotland but was always impressed with the scenery.