Niggles

After the relative elation of managing to reach my first target early last weekend, I have definitely had the wind knocked out of my sails this week.

I have been nursing a few little niggly aches and pains for a few weeks now, but after the 10 miler on Sunday I added a new one to the list which has scared me, because it's a groin strain, and as I mentioned earlier in my blog this one has had me out on the injury bench before.

To list the niggles out might help me put them into perspective I think.

1. Pain in my right wrist and the back of my hand, between my little finger and the one next to it.  Especially when stirring things, or trying to write.  My right wrist is the one I broke, and this time last year was recovering from an operation on, so I am suspicious about these pains and what might be causing them!  So much so, I booked myself in for a session with my old physio last week, which I have paid for myself rather than claiming on private healthcare.  Jess had a good old feel and tested range of movement etc. and decided that she couldn't see anything wrong and was pleased with the mobility in my wrist.  I am under instruction to do some exercises and to call her back in a couple of weeks if there is no improvement or if the pain gets worse, so watch this space!  I can confirm that after a weekend of no writing and no baking, the pain is much better, however I will test the water properly next week and see what happens.
2. Pain in my left side and back, in the area of my ribs.  I think that I must have pulled something 3 weeks ago when putting my trainers on, as I remember suddenly getting a sharp pain in my side before I even started running, which meant that when I took a breath in I got a wave of incredible pain.  This is still lingering and causing me the occasional issue, such as if I lean on my left arm on the sofa, or sleep on my left side.
3. Pain in my left heel for the past couple of weeks.  I am pretty certain this is plantar fasciitis and as such have been doing all sorts of calf stretches, which seems to be improving the situation.
4. Pain in my right knee.  This is the one that I dislocated four times last year, and is still very unstable.  Sometimes it is OK and sometimes it clicks when I walk.  When I run, I often get a few niggles from this knee, usually at the start and finish of the run.  I think that when I have done this marathon, I will be getting a second opinion from a different knee specialist, and asking for my bone chip to be removed.
5. The aforementioned groin strain, in my left leg.

All advice I sought, and could find courtesy of google, has confirmed the need to rest the groin strain, so I only went for one run last week on Thursday morning.  A little 4.5 miler.  And I can confirm that it was quite painful, and at times I could feel myself limping a little bit.  Since then I have found even walking agony at times, so I haven't been for a run this weekend.  What I have done instead is some gentle stretching, and am feeling a lot less pain this evening.  

If I'm honest, it's been getting to me a bit this week.  I'm worried that these little niggles could grow into bigger things that hinder my training and halt my momentum, and it feels like two steps forwards and one step back.  Although when you actually think about that statement, that's still a step in the right direction isn't it so I shouldn't be too down on myself and my poor old body!

In an effort to keep my spirits up, I have tonight added a load of new running kit to my basket on Amazon, which I shall purchase tomorrow.  The next item on the list is to sort myself out with some new trainers, so a trip to Sweatshop is in order.  Because there is nothing like shiny new kit to make me want to get back out there I reckon!  Wish me luck!