One thing I know about injuries

Something that one of my triathlon pals once said about Amateur Athletes and injuries has stayed with me. While most of the general public will happily take the advice of their doctor to completely stop exercise (seeing it as an excuse to lie on the couch and watch the TV for months) so as to allow the body to recover from an injury, whether to the foot, calf, knee, hamstring, glute muscle or whatever, in contrast the Amateur Athlete will look aghast at such a suggestion and immediately and vehemently question the merits of a recovery period of anything more than a few days.

I have so often seen this complete lack of ability to take the advice of doctors, and physios or podiatrists come to that. In fact being told to rest and recover for the good of your body seems simply to act like a red rag to the Amateur Athlete.

So the injured AA tries to train through the pain, or gives it a couple of days before heading out for a "light" 10-mile run or eases their pace from sprint to just-less-than-Kelly-Holmes-style-speed.

The strangest thing is that most AAs will also tell you that they know all about listening to their bodies and being "in the know" about their physiques. But when it comes to injury and recovery they just don't seem to know when to stop.

I know this, too, because I've been there myself trying to keep going through the pain of an injury. In truth I trained through a hamstring pull for months in the run up to the Loch Ness Marathon. I just wouldn't give in - but then with only six weeks to go to the big day I was forced to seek advice from a (costly) physio, a masseur and a coach. I was told to go only short runs and train on my bike instead. I'm still convinced that I could have gone sub 3.30 (instead of 3.35) if only I'd taken a recovery break at the time of injury. I'll never know though will I?

Currently I know of at least three good friends who are training through an injury. They just can't stop themselves!

I think a major part of the problem is the addiction to exercise that sees the AA putting on their blinkers the minute they feel a pull in their calf or a pain in their hamstring. They'll blame their trainers, their cadence, the tilt of a pavement they were running on, last night's glass of wine. Whatever. But few actually address an insistent injury until they have trained on it for too long or too hard.

And I know from experience how difficult it is to give up the daily fix of running. But I also know how slow it can be to recover from an injury when you continue to push yourself through the pain.

So next time you feel the first twinge of an injury, stop the exercise. Rest up for a while (and longer than a day!) and seek the advice of a physio, sports masseur or podiatrist. It pays to get to the root of the problem before the problem eventually roots you.

You know who you are you AA super heroes!

London Marathon: Yes or no?

It had not actually occured to me to find out about more age group entries for the London Marathon until one of my fellow tri club members wrote about her entry into the 2009 London Marathon. Having run a 3:40 marathon in Amsterdam, Jo qualified for a "good for age" entry into the London Marathon. And she raved about it!

So that got me thinking. Although I only ever dreamed of doing one marathon, and I didn't care which one, having recorded a "good for age" time of 3.35 I now feel like it would almost be too rude not to take up my 2010 place at the London Marathon.

But then again, I always said I would hate training through the winter (my first and only marathon was in October 2008 at Loch Ness) and I'm not a huge fan of big, crowded races. But, again, I keep thinking that this could be my only chance to get an entry to the biggie, the London Marathon.

I have until August to make up my mind but I think I'm almost 60% there already. What would make all the difference is if someone who runs about the same time as me and who lives near me might be up for a bit of winter training? See, there I've suddenly notched it up to "65% likely to enter"!

Running challenge for the guys

If the girls can have their own 10k in Glasgow, then why not the boys? Following hot on the heels of the hugely successful Glasgow Women's 10k, which takes place annually in May, the Men's Health Forum Scotland Men's 10k, this year on June 21, is now inspiring the guys to pull on their trainers to improve their health. 

Running is good for you in so many ways (burns cals, beats stress, improves your love life, prevents disease etc) that I find it hard to understand why you WOULDN'T do it. When I mentioned this to a friend recently she said I only like running because "you're good at it". But like most people I had to start from scratch. Seven yeas ago in my early 30s I could manage only about 2 mins of jogging before I was gasping for breath.

It was the Glasgow Women's 10k 2001 that inspired me to get fit and enter my first running race. It was extremely hard to begin with but I followed a programme, built up slowly and when I crossed the finish line of the 10k I was on a total high.

Since then I've had running highs and lows,  completed several 10ks, a couple of half marathons, my first marathon (the Loch Ness Marathon 2008) and now I've moved on to triathlons. 

Running is, for me, an ideal way to keep fit because it's time efficient, flexible and cheap (a busy work and family life dictates a flexible timetable). Running also seems to hold back the years (very important in your 40s!). It has also offered me a whole new circle of friends (great if you work at home in your own little lonely office). 

I reckon if I can turn from sofa sloth to running addict then anyone can.

And the guys do still have some way to go to catch up with us girls. With entry levels for the Women's 10k at around 14,000, the Men's 10k sits at around 3000 participants.  Now, boys, it's your turn to get up off the sofa...

Read more about the MHFS Men's 10k 2009 in my article