Injury stories – Holly’s Heel

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Marathon runner, blogger and fellow cheese fan @HollyCall01 had an injury-ravaged marathon training experience and has very kindly agreed to share it with us. For more from Holly see her excellent blog.

When I found out I had a place in the 2012 Virgin London Marathon I was over the moon. I love running, absolutely love it, and this was a dream come true. I immediately threw myself into training – I was determined to have the best possible marathon experience and to be as prepared as possible.

In early February things started to go wrong. I’d got up to 15 miles, but I’d been having a bit of knee pain. It was classical Runner’s Knee, and although it was irritating and painful it wasn’t really worrying me too much. I thought I could run through it. During one early morning run my knee had been grumbling a bit more than usual, so I decided to wear an old pair of running shoes to work that day – I thought it might give my feet better support and cushion my poor old knee a bit. I got to work and noticed that the back of my left heel was a bit sore. It felt like the shoe was rubbing me, so I put a plaster on my heel (although I couldn’t see any evidence of rubbing) and got on with my day. By the afternoon walking was becoming increasingly painful, but I just blamed it on the old shoes. They must be too tight on my heel, I thought. At about 4 pm I had to take my left shoe off. Even when sitting my heel was in agony. At the end of the day I knew something was seriously wrong. I rarely get the bus home – it’s only a couple of miles from my house to work – but at this point I could barely walk. Tears were streaming down my face as I struggled to the bus stop.

When I got off the bus at the other end I ended up taking my shoes off and walking home in my socks. Not ideal in London! But I was in agony – I’d never felt anything like it. As soon as I got into my flat I pulled all of my running books off the bookshelf and flipped straight to the ‘Injuries’ sections. I already had an idea what might be wrong. Achilles Tendinopathy. Symptoms… “Significant tenderness to touch, pain when trying to stand on tip-toes, gradual onset of discomfort during and after exercise”. I rose gingerly to my tip-toes and screeched as an intense pain ripped through my heel. I read on. “This injury, once contracted, can stay with you for a long period of time, so prevention is your priority”.

I immediately threw on my compression socks, propped my foot upon a pile of cushions and raided the freezer for frozen veg. The next morning I was still in agony and could barely walk. Luckily, I work at a hospital, so I could grab a crutch, which allowed me to get around. There is no way I would have been mobile otherwise.

I already had a physio session booked to address the knee issues I had been having, which I was extremely grateful for. My physio, Peter at Pro-Physiotherapy in Earlsfield, confirmed my self-diagnosis of Achilles Tendinopathy. But instead of the doom-and-gloom prognosis, I had been getting from the internet and my running books he was extremely positive and supportive. He sent me away with some exercises to do and told me I’d be on my feet again in no time at all.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, a week and a half later I was still unable to run. Needless to say, I was a bit of a nightmare during that time, and I’ll be eternally grateful to my friends and family for putting up with me while I was at my lowest! I went back to Peter, and he told me not to worry – we’d sort it. I’d already admitted to him that I was a bit lax with my stretching regime, so he set to work trying to iron out the knots in my calves. His knuckles, elbows and thumbs pulverised my calves for half an hour, then he sent me home and told me to run. I was dubious, but I trusted him.

Unbelievably, that night I ran 4 miles with no pain. My first run in 10 days. In those 10 days I hadn’t even been able to walk without severe discomfort, and after half an hour with this amazing physio, I was running. It felt amazing! I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time! Over the next few weeks I worked very hard to keep my calves nice and loose, with lots of stretching and foam rolling, and save for a couple of twinges my Achilles tendon kept quiet and behaved itself.

I’d love to say that after that temporary blip in training the rest of my marathon training went perfectly. But it didn’t. I was plagued with muscle tightness and picked up a couple more injuries, from hamstring pulls to shin splints. For the majority of my marathon training, I didn’t even think I’d make the start line. I didn’t even dare to visualise what my marathon would be like. I wanted it so much, yet my body was failing me.

I did make it to the start line though. I was sensible. I listened to my physio. I did my exercises. I realised that my “A” goal, my target time, probably wasn’t achievable with the gaps in my training. On 22nd April 2012, when I was lining up to begin my first marathon I was just so incredibly grateful to be there that all of my expectations and worries faded away.

I completed my first marathon in the very respectable time of 4 hours, 44 minutes and 37 seconds. It wasn’t easy. My legs hurt for the first 3 miles and I wasted far too much energy trying to get past the other 36, 999 runners. But it was amazing. I ran the entire way, I kept my pace consistent, and I finished with a smile on my face. Of course, the awful injury memories have now faded away, and I’m already planning my next marathon. Much more stretching this time of course!