mr b's comeback

[mr brightside]

My scan is tommorrow so maybe i'll get some news...

...or maybe not. Apparently today's imaging session wasn't about achieving a diagnosis, but just about ruling out a couple of easy things that might get a bit nasty. So i haven't got any Inguinal canal tears or hernias, but i suspected that anyway based on me not actually having suffered a traumatic injury; the source of the soreness was always going to be a repetetive injury of some kind. The sonographer was a bit displeased about the fact i was still running once a week, but in the absence of a diagnosis, which the sonographer was unable to provide, it might not be the wrong thing to do.

I was told it's going to be down to someone else to provide the diagnosis, but i'm not told who; it must be a secret and i've got to go back to my doctor and start again and generally bugger off. Unfortunately it seems half a million quids worth of kit can't see things like swelling and Bursitis, or so i'm told; maybe detecting the gender of an 18wk old foetus is all the work it needs to do. It's a classic example of how the best gear in the world is only ever as good as the person operating it. They aren't trained to detect the sort of repetetive strain injuries people involved in sport pick up, only to spot potentially expensive and embarrasing problems like abnormal development in unborn babies.

I've had this song and dance from the nhs before anyway, i've got an appointment with my get-me-out-of-the-shit physio guy on friday. i'll have my arse sawn off, varnished, and offered to the winner of this year's inaugural 'Wharfedale Harriers' Great Whernside if he draws a blank and tells me twice in the space of 10secs that i can leave whenever i want.

[mr brightside]

i've got an appointment with my get-me-out-of-the-shit physio guy on friday. i'll have my arse sawn off, varnished, and offered to the winner of this year's inaugural 'Wharfedale Harriers' Great Whernside if he draws a blank...

Hip joint impingement. During some intensive spine exercises back in may i've been trapping the hip socket's cartilage rim between the Femur Neck and the Pelvis. Joint capsule is inflamed, hip flexors are in spasm, we won't know if i've damaged any cartilage for a while. No running, no cycling, minimal walking. It's not even running related, i did it to myself by being stupid.

[mr brightside]

Five ascents of Elbolton Hill from the Thorpe fell gate this afternoon. All walking no running, 0.1m/250' per ascent, just up the steepest bit to a small pointed and craggy outcrop. Just an attempt to keep some resemblence of hill work going, it might turn out to be bad for my hip then it's curtains for everything. Not even any standing room in The Fountaine afterwards, had to go thirsty, couldn't get through the door.

[Mark Robinson]

Hey Luke, been following your thread for a while now and gotta admire your ability to persist through setbacks! Have you ever done any work with a movement therapist of some kind to make sure your body is in alignment and can move in the right sorts of ways to begin with?

[Travs]

Hello Mr Brightside... I'm thinking of doing a few local park runs to try and improve my general running speed. Did you find they helped you at all?

I must admit im more in to the long arduous fell races but I'm sure a bit more flat speed will help somewhere.

Must say the standard doesn't look fantastic (as expected)... I'd initially be hoping to get down towards 19 mins and that would probably get me in the top 15-20 out of 500-600 who usually turn up....

[mr brightside]

Hey Luke, been following your thread for a while now and gotta admire your ability to persist through setbacks! Have you ever done any work with a movement therapist of some kind to make sure your body is in alignment and can move in the right sorts of ways to begin with?

I've had a gait analysis as part of my battle with knee problems, apart from that- no. I've adapted my footstrike to a natural forefoot for fairly safe terrain, but retain the ability to heel strike on rougher terrain. My current hip setback isn't running related it's worth pointing out; it happened due to me overdoing my hip rotations during another bad back period. I have limited joint mobility in my hips which hasn't helped.

Hello Mr Brightside... I'm thinking of doing a few local park runs to try and improve my general running speed. Did you find they helped you at all?

I must admit im more in to the long arduous fell races but I'm sure a bit more flat speed will help somewhere.

Must say the standard doesn't look fantastic (as expected)... I'd initially be hoping to get down towards 19 mins and that would probably get me in the top 15-20 out of 500-600 who usually turn up....

The standard at parkruns is generally fairly steady depending on where you go. I can get top 10 most days and i'm often in the top 5. Doing parkruns impacted dramatically on my overall fitness, i started at just over 20m and went down to just over 19m within 8wks. My fartlek XC midweek run got easier too, the amount of instantaneous and overall speed i gained was impressive.

I'm not sure whether parkruns will benefit you on AL races, but i was expecting a really good Kendal Winter League had i been able to keep going.

[mr brightside]

Eight ascents of Elbolton Hill from the Thorpe fell gate this afternoon, 0.1m/250' per ascent. Nearly got knocked out on the way up when a crow dropped an apple from waaay up missing my noggin by about a metre or so. The apple was easily at terminal velocity and just disintegrated on the floor beside me. Corrected a couple of ramblers trying to get to Burnsall by walking to Cracoe, they always have the worst of maps, crappy printed out things from outdoor websites. I've seen the future of post-training snap, and inevitably it's yorkshire puddings. Yorkshire pudding dippers from The Fountaine Inn- a so-called tourist boozer, 4 proper yorkshires cut into bits with a boat of real gravy to dip them in. No cutlery just fingers and a pint of Naylor's Pale Ale to wash it down with. Sublime.

[Derby Tup]

Yorkshire pudding dippers? "Boat" of gravy? So-called tourist boozer? Get a couple of pickled eggs down you next time. They do sell pickled eggs don't they?

[mr brightside]

Pickled eggs? It's no trashy cyclist's joint like The Swan you know. I couldn't stand for the tone to be lowered that much tbh, DT; the ever-present John Smith's pump along with its band of loyal devotees is already quite enough.

I've really been feeling that 8 reps today, it doesn't feel like 2000' when you're doing it.

[mr brightside]

Just a cheeky 5 reps yesterday, followed by a walk to Burnsall and back with a pal. Lots of throat soreness and catarrh as a result, it's because i'm not used to breathing hard regularly any more. We had a snack and a pud in The Fountaine Inn, i reckoned we'd earned it after a bit of a freestyle nav yomp back over Thorpe Fell. Yorkshire pudding dippers and sticky toffee pudding, it's a marriage made in heaven and not a pickled egg in sight. Disturbing news- the new pale ale on the block is Golden Hen...??...i played it safe and went for a Thwaites bitter.