Ultras, injuries and a 30th birthday

Ultras, injuries & a 30th birthday. This pretty much sums up the last 2 weeks for me.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people on Instagram running ultra marathons in the last couple of weeks. In particular the Race To The Tower which is staged in the Cotswolds and has had me reminiscing of my time in the Cotswolds last summer.

If you haven’t run an ultra marathon then it’s definitely something you should look into doing. It’s a fantastic experience, one that will push you to your physical & emotional limits.

At the start line of The Cotswold Way 100k Ultra Marathon

I did The Cotswold Way Challenge which was 100k straight through and you can read the first two parts of my race review here & here. The third part is still very much in my head but as its ultra season & its coming up to a year since I did it, I plan to write the third part very soon.

You would think that being a year ago I would struggle to remember it. However its something that I feel will stay with me for a very long time. The highs, the lows, the pain, even the moaning, of which there was a lot during the last 10-20k haha!

So seeing everyone smashing these ultras and creating amazing memories has not only made me want to do another one, it has also made me even more determined to get these injuries behind me for good.

Speaking of which, my knee hasn’t been a problem since the last flare up. The latest setback in my seemingly never ending return to some form of fitness has been my back, specifically the lower left hand side.

I felt it go a little during my deadlifts in the gym the other week but it was fine after a couple of days. I then trained with Matt again at CrossFit Wyvern. I successfully completed 2 out of 3 workouts before ever so slightly feeling my back again lifting and swinging kettle bells.

With Matt & Becky post workout at CrossFit Wyvern

At the time I didn’t think much of it but it got progressively worse as the day went on, and over the next 2 days I struggled to get up off the sofa and putting Poppy into her cot was a nightmare. I’ve had a similar pain before but nothing like this. I just couldn’t believe my luck. I mean, I’m doing strength work to help recover from an injury and prevent any future reoccurrences and I go and injure myself in the process!

To be totally honest it was pretty depressing to not be able to do anything for another week or so. Thankfully, my back is feeling a lot better now. Its still not quite right but I’ve had 2 successful runs, the first of which I could feel it in my back but I think that distracted me from the paranoia of my IT band flaring up again. The second was this morning and my back felt fine during the run and there were no ill effects in my knee.

I can run again!!!

What I have now done is altered my pre and post run routines. Before my injury I wouldn’t do much of a warm up but I did always stretch afterwards. Now I am doing my glute exercises, which I have posted on my Instagram before, squats & lunges, and since hurting my back I have incorporated some back stretches which I found here.

Post run, I have been doing my usual stretches but added in a few more. I feel like this is definitely helping my recovery and I’m determined to stick with it even if it does effectively add about half an hour to any run I do.

I have noticed that my fitness has dropped significantly and what would normally be an easy paced run takes a lot more effort, my heart rate is higher and my muscles are tighter. I know that won’t last forever though and hopefully this will be one of the last posts I do that talk about bloody injuries!

So moving away from injury talk, it was Steph’s 30th birthday on Friday. She was duly spoilt and she had a cracking party Friday night. Said party made me realise how much I love the fact that I rarely drink these days as I really cant handle it anymore haha! Honestly, I must have had maybe 5 or 6 pints of cider and I felt rough as f*ck the next day!

All dressed up & ready to party

I also had a cheeky 2 pints at lunchtime today but as it was fathers day, I allowed myself to drink a little. It again made me realise how much I don’t miss it though.

I hope all you lovely people have had a pleasant fathers day, whether you’re a dad or you just spent time with your father and family.