So that's why it hurts.....

So after almost 2 years of discomfort, 4 months of physio, 2 months of no running/cycling etc. i  finally went to the doctor about my back/hip, was sent for x-ray which came back with a passing comment regarding arthritis which was enough for me to be sent to a orthopaedic consultant to discuss the x-ray, i wasn't really prepared for his prognosis, he had obviously read my notes because he said, you have arthritis of both hips so your days for running a 100 miles a week, sorry i mean 100 miles at a time are over, in fact your running days are over, you will need a hip replacement in a couple of years time, so it's not a pulled muscle then!!!

So what now, well I've got a 100miles race in May!! there were many thoughts in my head, just give up and take up extreme knitting, become a gym bunny again or just drink beer and eat chips, but i have for the time being decided to train for the 100 miles, apparently i can't make it any worse by continuing to run it's just a case of can i put up with the pain, and managing that pain, strangely it hurts less while actually out running but i put this down to just being outside and doing something you like hides the pain a bit, you really notice it doing day to day stuff like getting up out of the chair or standing doing the washing up etc....

As far as treatment I've got a MRI scan in March to assess the joint and see if any other options are available to me, i have some great medical contacts that tell me all is not lost there are plenty of medical options, so for the time being i have to do pretty much what I've been doing for the last 2 years and grin and bear it....

Round and round and round and round and round....

Simple concept just run round a 400m tracks for 24hrs, every 6hrs swapping direction, welcome to 24hr track running...

During the summer i have been using the Brecon athletic track to train for the British Ultra Fest 24hr track race in Abingdon, i did a number of 4/5 hour runs on the track as training, a couple of these runs were on the same night as the Brecon lads football training I'd watch them all turn up chat for a while then train for a couple of hours and then chat so more before leaving to go down the pub all the time i would by running round and round the track I'm not sure what they made of me....

On the day my back/hip hurt from the off, i needed to be a little bit careful as i was off on holiday the following day and didn't want to be in too much discomfort on the plane, in the end i stopped after 223 laps and 55 miles in just under 12hrs, i loved every minute of it, you'd think you would get bored but there was plenty going on to keep you occupied, there was a 6 day event, 48hr and the 24hr i was doing and we were all on the track at the same time but strangely not as congested as you'd expect, some of the 6 day people were beginning to loose the plot a little which was amusing to watch...night time was interesting as the track was not flood lit and the lack of local street lights and house lights made it very dark, some people were using head torches some weren't, on more than one occasion you'd see two people just run into each other because a) they just didn't see them in the dark b) they were tired and not concentrating.

All in all i loved it, happy with 55 miles, not so happy that yet again my back/hip gave me so much grief, once I'm back from holiday first stop is the physio to see what can be done as it's becomingly more painful and annoying....  

And the winner is er me!!!

Training for the 6633 has has been far from ideal, I continue to have back/hip problems, continued stretching and the occasional pain relief keep me going, changing between hoka/inov-8 helps as does walking as apposed to running, so when I tipped up at the start line for the shorter 120 mile 6633 I didn't know what to expect, but from the off I felt good, I lead the race for about the first 65 miles and came into the first checkpoint 5 mins down on the leader, I never intended to stop at the checkpoints but I did have some food and put out a fire!!! Before heading out again, up until this point my back had been fine, hip a little sore, but the constant banging of the sledge waistband was taking its toll, I had a couple of short stops to stretch but my race was gradually falling apart, trying to not put too much pressure on my right hip gave me a huge blister on left foot, while sat on the side of the road I drained the large blister and contemplated another DNF, as I despondently dragged my sled in my hand I noticed that not wearing the waistband stopped my hip hurting and also enabled me to run which stopped my feet hurting, so I ran/walked the final 40 miles or so in this fashion dragging the sled in my hand all the way to the finish line, not only did I win the race but I also knocked over 4hrs off the course record!!!

I'm continuing to do the Likey's 365 challenge, we're on something like day 212, what has surprised me is that I have not found it a chore, even when my hip has been giving me a bit of grief or the weather has been cold and miserable and we get a lot of that in Wales(!) I've looked forward to my daily dose of fresh air...

Need to sort out some summer races, only planned event is another crack at the G24, Carole is doing the Trans Briton event in Sept. and I'm looking forward to training this summer with her...

Dw i heb dy weld ti ers talwn!

Greetings from not so sunny Wales!!!

It been a while, so a quick summary, i've moved to Wales!!!, i didn't run the Glenmore 24, weekly physio hasn't sorted my troublesome hip/back, i'm 32 days into the Likeys 365 challenge which requires me to run every day for a year!, i completed the 30 mile Mountain Trail challenge up in Brecon, my next race is the 46 miles Beacons ultra in November, i now work for www.likeys.com, i'm off to the Arctic to run 120 miles in March, there is not such thing as a flat mile in Wales, i now know 2 people who have run across America, Mimi set another world record, Hoka running shoes may look odd but they are great......

I hope to blog more regularly so to record my 6633 training up here in Wales, and because according to my stats 98 people have read/visited this blog in the last month and therefor i need to give my fan's(!) something to read :-)

Kevin.....

back problems.....

Well it was always going to be a big ask, but after 2 good days in the welsh hills (after deciding not to do the WAAT4 race) i was hopeful that all would be good for the South Downs Way 100, but from the off my back was aching and slipping and sliding around in the mud for the first hour or so did me no favours. i had resigned myself to stopping at the first checkpoint but also had to remind myself that 2 weeks ago i was flat out on the floor of the bathroom unable to move, it wasn't painful but ache like that is only going to get worse over 100 miles and i didn't want to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere and cause the race director (James) any problems, so at the first checkpoint i withdrew and walked the 10miles back to the start, the decision to withdraw turned out to be the right one because my back was quite sore by the time i got back to my car, so i have restarted taking the anti inflammatories and doing my stretches etc, and give it more time to heal.

So what now, well for reasons that will become apparent later i have withdrawn from the Fire and Ice ultra and decided to do the Glenmore 24hr race again (i did 100 miles at this event last year) so i have 9 weeks to get myself sorted......

Life goes on....

For personnel reasons running has not been the priority recently and i've only been able to do miles as and when, my back/hip had been fine until i did some gardening and managed to aggravate it again but with further stretching we seem to have fixed that particular problem, to be honest I've put in enough miles for the WAAT4 but not nearly as many miles as i would have liked for the South Downs 100 but i still intended to do both events but i may have to rethink both after putting my back out brushing my teeth (no laughing please) it was serious enough for me to have to go to the doctors where i was offered a course of morphine!! so i have 6 days to go from unable to walk to running the WAAT4 and 13 days until i try to run 100 miles even for me that's quite a big ask...

5 years ago....

It was 5 years ago this week that i was running in the Sahara desert it was my first multi day event having done 25+ marathons and a couple of 50 mile events, i remember it well it was a great way to spend a week,  5 years on and i'm watching a friend of mine run the 2012 event, it's hard because i know what she is going though but she is strong and will be fine but it doesn't make it any easier.

It's been 5 weeks since the Thames Path 100 and I've run 4 times in that time, all of them were painful experiences, I've had 5 weeks of rest and physio and have seen no difference in my back in fact i think it's gradually got worse, it's baffled the physio so we have agreed that i will start running again and see if that eases the situation, I'm to continue with the stretches and use the heat lamp as often as possible and promised not to do anything silly (might struggle with the last one!) i'm going to give this a go for a week or so and see if anything changes before we decide what to do next, it's a frustrating one because everything we try doesn't seem to work even though we know we are in the right area be it be the SI joint itself or one of the surrounding muscles...