Runslates: Blair McWhirter: Reduce, rebuild, reuse and hopefully…. recover

The Thursday before the Christchurch marathon I was on a light recovery run when I noticed a sharp pain in my left hip. As we do, I ignored and continued until it built up and forced me to stop. For some reason I decided to try a couple of strides; maybe to take some confidence away? After 3 or 4 I had to stop from the increased pain.

What a difference 24 hours can make.

Prior to this (Wednesday) I was on top of the world with a great result from my last speed session. But now I was limping back to the car wondering what went wrong? Too much, I believe is a good place to start first of all. Straight home, Ibuprofen, ice, rest and on the phone to find a physio quick sticks.

Long story short, with the right treatment and amount of rest an injury can go away very quickly.

Thanks to Blair at Tower Junction Physio, who I’m still going to now to keep tabs on the hip which is really improving now.

In terms of timing this little injury is perfect. My next race is not until the middle of August and I can plan an active recovery for most of this month. I’ve looked at everything I’ve done and was doing; stride, technique, stretching and strengthening. From this I’ve made plenty of changes and feel positive for the upcoming 6 weeks. In saying that, the temptation to crank up the miles too quickly needs to be resisted. Being a ‘kiwi bloke’ who enjoys a little reflection from time to time I enjoyed the opportunity to research and reflect on things I’d done. I did find some, questionable advice on running backwards. This triggered my memory so I’ve included this clip to check out!

So without much more to report I’ll leave you with some photos of a recent fishing trip, albeit an unsuccessful one. Remember that a bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work.