Tales of Tendonitis
Posted October 13, 2011
The recent post about duathlons got me thinking about my recent decision (whim) to have a go. Mixing up my cycling with a bit of running is appealing.
Unfortunately, the idea of running is tainted by a lot of bad memories. Yes, all the usual school nightmares. But there’s more.
In the early spring of this year, while I was living in Morecambe, I decided to start running. I was cycling to work on the pootling little shopper that I had at the time, and it wasn’t enough. Suddenly my body started urging me to do more. Go further. Push harder. Cash-strapped, unwilling to join a gym, I wondered what to do.
Running was the obvious answer.
So I bought a pair of trainers (grey and pink) and a pair of running pants (black and pink) and couldn’t face owning another piece of pink-sports-clothing-for-the-Laydeez so made do with an old scabby t-shirt (not pink).
My biggest investment was a sports bra, and if you don’t appreciate the wisdom of this, just visit http://www.shockabsorber.co.uk/bounceometer/shock.html and watch the video. The images will linger.
Off I went, pounding along the promenade. Walk – run – walk, three times a week, following a “zero to hero! Run 5k in 12 weeks!” plan off the internet.
Well, this is easy, I thought, and dashed off a sprinty two miles in week three.
And woke up in agony.
I couldn’t move my feet, I couldn’t bear weight, and my shins and lower inner calves were swollen and tender.
After a week, I caved in and went to the doctor. I felt unspeakably foolish admitting it to him.
Yes, I bought cheap trainers. Yes, I went too fast, too far, too hard, too soon. Yes, I am a twit.
He tried to make me feel better. He told me it was common in cyclists, who have developed strong leg muscles, to overdo it when they took up running. Cycling “shortens the tendons” apparently, (or at least, doesn’t use them in the same way that running does) so stretching before and after exercise was even more vital. I am not sure of the legitimacy of what he said – I’m no physio, and I couldn’t Google up any evidence – but it makes sense. My muscles could cope with running…the rest of my legs could not.
It took four slow, painful weeks to recover.
So it was with trepidation that I swapped my bike ride today for a jog. I spent a good ten minutes stretching, then walked briskly for a while before lurching into the run. I went off-road, up a hill behind the house and across the top of a moor. The uneven ground forced me to slow down and be more aware of my body and what I was doing to it. Once back, I stretched some more, then lay on my back in a sweaty heap with ice packs on my lower legs for five minutes before getting into the shower.
My legs don’t feel too bad, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s galling, when you’re all right at one sport, to find that you’re rubbish at another – like fitness should make you awesome at everything, automatically. Sadly, it doesn’t.
Different sports just make you ache in different places.
picture featured in the Daily Cycle Flickr Group – added by GraemeDawson13
