And then it all went wrong
by mphcrawley
Back in January, when we discussed a then freshly printed, crisp training schedule (now dog-eared, grubby and covered in barely legible annotations), my coach pointed to the week after Wilmslow half and said ‘that’s the big week, if you can get through that one we’ve cracked it’. And I nearly did. During the acceleration run I did on the Thursday night I was aware of a bit of tightness in my back and glute on the left hand side, but I got through the run alright and only felt a bit of discomfort the next day. Since then, though, the pain has worsened, and returns every time my left foot hits the ground.
I’ve seen a couple of physios (‘this is the kind of appointment you probably dread. Before Michael explains what’s wrong I just want to preface it by saying he wants to race a marathon in less than a week…’) but when I still couldn’t walk properly on Wednesday I realised I’d have to accept defeat.
Marathon training is a tightrope walk with injury on one side and illness on the other, but I was so close to reaching the other side that it feels like I’ve wasted a huge amount of effort and energy. Anyone who has prepared seriously for marathons will have been through similar disappointment, and it has helped that my coach and his wife both had similar experiences (she ended up having to sit on a bench on the riverbank in Durham, unable to run another step on the Wednesday before Boston, having come down with bronchitis the weekend before). Anticlimax is a serious understatement.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to running sooner rather than later, and there will be other marathons. For now, I’m giving myself a couple more days to sulk and then I’ll probably have to join a gym and do some cross training. This is not something I look forward to, especially with the arrival of sumer. I’m with Will Self on this one and fail to understand why ‘the generality have become seriously comfortable about handing their money to Richard Branson for the privilege of working their own bodies’. But then I don’t suppose Will Self would see the appeal of marathon training either, and I enjoyed the ride while it lasted.
I’ll post an injury update at some point. In the meantime, though, thanks for reading.
Acceptable in the Eighties 
Sorry to hear it. Hopefully this cycle of training will leave you stronger for the next once you get back on your feet.
Don’t know you personally Michael but feel I do through this thoroughly entertaining blog. Gutted for you, but use that training to smash out some 5k and 10k times over the summer and try again in the Autumn?
Hard lines mate, very sorry to hear. Hope you keep on blogging despite!
Hard lines mate. Really enjoy the blog by the way. From an exiled durhamer…
Gutted for you Mike, I’ve followed your blogs for the last couple of months. I too ran Wilmslow and have had nothing but trouble since. At least I’ll be on the start line though… Good Luck!
Well crap. I was looking forward to London. I’ve enjoyed these entries so please keep writing.
Nightmare! Sorry to read this. Your injury sounds like a piriformis thing (?) I’m about 5 divsions below you talent-wise but I know how frustrating (and what a pain in the arse) this injury is. A week or so nursing it with ice packs, necking ibuprofen and not doing any running (a 7 day reunion with the elliptical trainer helps keep some level of fitness going) generally helps to take it down but when it’s bad it sucks. Hope yours calms down soon. Really insightful and inspiring blog, btw. It’s great to run fast vicariously 🙂
Hi Michael, I’m sorry to hear the news. That must be gutting for you after all the hard work, and those great results at Finchley and Wilmslow. I hope the injury doesn’t last too long, and you can put the training to good use at another marathon in the near future.
Hard news mate, the greatest thing about training for and running a marathon is finding out about yourself. Having read your blog for a while I’d say that you’d managed that in a big way already. It’s been an inspiring journey and as you point out, it continues. Good luck with your rehab.
Michael, that is so cruel and disappointing, I was looking forward to reading about your race. I hope you recovery is swift.
I don’t think crosstraining or the gym is the answer. Not sure what your issue is with your glute but I had a very similar injury that hurt every time my left foot landed. I couldn’t figure out if it was my hip, glute, psoas, flexor, abductor, etc. The only thing that helped was complete rest with almost no walking and zero running. After two weeks I was back to running with no pain.
Avoid the temptation to run to physios and the gym. Just rest.
Chin up, old boy! You live to fight another day
Best wishes for the recovery, I appreciate your writing and hope you’ll keep botn writing and running.
Very sorry to hear that – I was looking forward to seeing what you could do in London. Another time…
Michael, let me tell you upfront that I enjoy your writing very much and as a fellow runner find it quite insipirational. So please keep your head up cause great things lie ahead!
sulk! you have a right to. and then i hope you’ll be back on your feet, soon. your training and writing has been an inspiration for us «normals».
Sorry to hear your bad news. I hope you are back to fitness soon and thanks for the entertaining blog.
Oh, no really sorry to read this (albeit a bit late)
hope you’re on the mend, and you can get in a good summer of racing.
Or, just asking, what about a marathon in May? If you’re fit of course. Hamburg is 4 May and they still have places, registration is open till 27 April, and to cut your costs we have a guest room. 🙂
Thanks so much for the offer – Hamburg would have been perfect if I’d managed to sort myself out a bit quicker. Maybe next year!
So how is the x-training going?
I’ve done a bit of swimming, but to be honest motivating myself to cross train doesn’t seem to be my forte! I’ve been doing lots of strengthening exercises though and seem to be pretty close to being able to run again so that’s good. I’ve also got myself a neoprene hat so I can have another go at swimming in the (unheated) Hampstead lido. The first time I tried I nearly got hypothermia!
Hello Mike
Just read your blog right from the start – most interesting. Very sorry to hear about the injury.
A year ago when you started this you wrote “For the next few months, I’ll be referring to my coach’s training diaries for 1981 and 1982, and writing about the experience of doing the simple things right and trying to replicate the kind of training that was done in his day….. And so I’m off, to publicly try to challenge the theory that my generation are doing it all wrong.”
Now you presumably have a bit more time on your hands, I wonder whether you might do a post reflecting upon what you have learnt in the past year about why GB runners are slower now than in the 1980s: has your experience with your coach’s training diaries brought you any closer to answering some of the questions raised by your initial post in February last year?
Cheers, and hope you’re back on the road soon.
Don’t be a quitter brother. People need to learn how to get out of hard times just as much as hearing how great the running is going.
Now that would be acceptable in the 80s…
I still check this almost daily, hoping that you’re running and will start writing again. Somehow I wish some artsy publisher would take what you’ve written and print it in some format. Having gone through it, it both resonnates with the runner and reader in me.
Good morning, I hope you are back training. I look forward to hearing about it. I had a shocking London too but hope Berlin will make amends.
It would be great to hear how you’re getting on mphcrawley…
Back with a bang this weekend, congratulations on a phenomenal time!
(I spotted you at about 7.5 miles but couldn’t remember your name so just shouted something like “Come on the 80s!”. Sorry.)