calender week10 is training week 9
Back in London with a new PB, I finished my Half Marathon in Frankfurt (wk 09) super happy and enjoyed my recovery wk 10 afterwards.
Maybe I had a bit too much rest in-between the strengthening sessions and easy jog or maybe I started week 11 too dynamic? I don’t know. But what I know is since the Half Marathon my legs had an issue.
Leg challenges:
1. My left toes started to feel numb after 6km
2. My right ankle muscle tissue was inflamed and hurt when touching.
From now on every run was unpleasant and my full attention was on both issues. It got worse on the long run and I felt stressed for the first time. My worries, getting insured, were taking over. I tweeted on Twitter and got a worrying reply about the numbness. It might be a damaged nerve!
Back at work I was so lucky to be able to talk to my colleague Daniela who was a Marathon runner and she gave me good advice throughout the whole trainings period. I just needed to talk a lot about the progress and challenges. She always there for me.
And GOOGLE got the answer! Yes numbness in the toes (mainly 2nd,3rd and 4th) was a known issue for runners.
I read through a few articles and they said the same thing about how to treat it:
– First loosen the laces – I tried that… still happening.
– Stretching during the run. – That can’t really be a solution for a Marathon… I’m not stopping for stretching.
– Wear thinner socks – yes I can do that.
– Numbness can be caused by a pressurised nerve. A Dr. should be seen to locate where the issue is coming from. – I was scared and already saw these huge Dr. bills in front of me. Is that really it? The description sound like it.
I was mentally down not knowing how I’m going to handle this situation, facing my biggest fear, getting an injury and worst case not able to run the race.
A Dr. appointment I was not able to arrange before my company trip to Italy and with my running schedule in place, I was just keep on training.
The weakness in my right leg was very present and the laces as loose as they could be, I ran.
While running, I was concentrating on my running style to reduce the impact.
I had the numbness before but it went away last year. Just to try it out I changed the landing of my foot from front-mid to full landing.
It worked. The different running style made the numbness go away, the blood flow was getting better. I still don’t belief that it is caused by the landing so I was sceptical and on every run I tweaked a bit on my foot landing and the lacing.
Looking a bit closer onto my feet, I saw that I have a high mid-foot and a significantly important vain running over it. I assume that the lacing and the swelling of the foot during the race causes the problem.
In the meanwhile I found a Tweet about that same issue from someone else. One comment said “activate your core, that will help the blood flow into the leg”.
From now on my mind was actually busy analysing my technique while running and activating specific parts of my body. On the same time I didn’t do any fast session anymore where I would run on my front foot.
OK after the Marathon I will go to a Doctor.
Chateau in Italy near Milan
Enjoying Italy at my company’s conference! I managed to run a 13k and didn’t experience any numbness however the challenge with the right foot was still there. The muscle tissue was sore and hurting. I massaged it a lot but no improvement.
I never ran that much before and probably the leg was week and not ready yet.
My team at last nights party.
Lake Como: Great view but I was still on an emotional dip and on top of that I wasn’t able to do my long run 21km in Italy…
Road only and stairs very steep, there was no chance to run.
Yes, we did a hill session for 20min and that was very intense but I skipped the long run which didn’t help to lift my mood.
What could I do other than enjoying the weekend in Italy with my Colleagues.
Overall in March I felt more down than up. Where is al the adrenaline gone?