Au

After the training camp in Lanzarote I started this blog in good spirits. To the Rotterdam marathon I had planned all kinds of big intermediate races, I became an ambassador for Raidlight and I was able to transfer a whole load of old messages. But then that happened what every runner fears: an injury. And I couldn't post for a while. Matches cancelled, marathon insecure, weeks not training… physically mentally I have a nagging pain.

The pain started a training after the Puinduin run on asphalt. A permanent pain in the right ankle which makes even walking painful. Also some pain at the shin of the same leg, but that could be due to compensation. Of course, I immediately went to the physiotherapist and he immediately ruled out overloading due to the extensive training in Lanzarote.

That is not good, because it means that there is no clear cause. I now mainly have to do exercises to strengthen the foot and hip muscles. The physiotherapist calls this undertraining rather than overexertion. When I'm tired, my feet collapse and that can lead to wrong movements on the road, which results in pain. On the trails, the problem is less, because there the movement is much less repetitive. So the motto is to train on unpaved roads until it just doesn't hurt. And maybe that marathon is just in the cards… if I can build up fast enough.

After walking 4 km on the meadows of the Groenzoom it hurt a little. The next day, a second time, meant much more pain and again hardly being able to walk. And that pain remained at a lower level all week. We agreed that next week I would have photos taken to rule out hairline cracks in the metatarsals and fractures in the shin. To be continued…