Just run!

The title refers to the instructions given to me by my physio. I had another appointment today, which developed into a rather interesting talk.

She gave my heel area a good look over and checked that the tendon is moving freely and not grinding. Everything was fine and she could see a definite increase in muscle size in the calf, so it now just looks small rather than pathetic.

We discussed the running I have been doing and I commented on how I have been using the GPS watch to keep my pace slow to avoid too much stress. To my surprise, she suggested that I try to up the pace to the level I would normally train at, as this would probably give me a smoother run using my normal gait. I talked about how I spend all my training runs thinking about how I am putting my foot down rather than just running normally and she suggested that this could be making things more difficult.

Somehow, I have to retrain my brain to realise that there is no longer a mechanical problem with the foot. At the moment, my brain is trained to protect the injured area (built up over the last few years of running with the problem) and will not let me run naturally, probably causing the calf to tighten and therefore putting more strain on the tendon.

We have decided that I'm on my own for the next couple of months, though I can call at any time I need help or advice, and then she can assess the situation, hopefully for the last time. Her parting words were "Just run!", so that is what I'm going to try and do.

On a different note, I received one of my regular emails from a friend who lives in Spain (Hi David), commenting on the previous post which I thought I would copy part of here;
"Your photo of the trees at Buttermere, start of Scarth Gap ..... I planted them when I was a National Park Ranger, for footpath erosion control."
Small world!!