After waking up this morning in severe pain I texted my sports physio asking him to save my life (or at least my running life!). He gave me a 12 O Clock appointment where he informed me I had a torn Rectus Femoris! I must admit I have never heard of this before and repeated ... a what?! He smiled sympathetically at me and said "a torn thigh muscle". He did the necessary massage and strapped me up before sending me on my way with my exercise plan!
I have since discovered that the Rectus Femoris muscle is one of four quadriceps muscles at the front of the thigh and attaches to the pelvis and just below the knee. It is responsible for extending the knee and flexing the hip. It is composed of fibres that are appropriate for rapid, forceful activity. This muscle is particularly vulnerable to eccentric stress forces and injuries caused by forceful movements such as when starting to sprint or kicking a ball. Well I can honestly say I haven't been doing any sprinting - perhaps its all the kicking of a snoring husband that's done it!! Basically depending on the severity it can take from a week up to 9 weeks to recover!
This particular Rectus Femoris will have to recover in a week - I'm sorry but I have a marathon and 3 half marathons to run in that time as well as a triathlon to complete! Talk about bad timing! I have emailed each of the races asking about the possibility of deferring until next year ... still waiting to hear!
Anyhow, despite this set back I'm trying to stay positive and have changed my marathon goal from a sub 4 to finishing without being in too much pain!
Unfortunately as well as this pain in my thigh, I also have pain and swelling of my Achilles! My Physio thinks this has been overworked due to my thigh being painful and it has been jumping in to save the day!
So ... REST is now on the cards!
Luckily it has been a sunny day today so I have got to sit sunbathing in the garden with my feet up and I have absolutely no feelings of guilt! There has to be at least one positive!
So I haven't quite survived week 15 of my marathon training but my stats for the week look like this:
Running: 23.07 miles in 3 runs.
Time on feet: 4:00:52
Best mile Pace this week : 8.38 m/m
Plus
Cross Training consisting of:
Walking: 8.03 Miles
Swimming: 2.25 miles
Cycling: 13.64
Total Weekly Miles: 47.00 Miles
and my total training for the marathon to date since 22nd April 2013 is:
Running : 363.06 Miles
Time on feet: 58:03:02
Best Mile Pace = 8 Minute Mile on 26th May and 16th July
Plus
Cross Training consisting of-
Pilate's: 8 hour
Circuit Training: 6 hour
Swimming: 15.11 Miles
Walking: 84.05 Miles
Cycling: 70.53 Miles
2 hour 15 minutes Sports Massage (3 sessions)
Total Miles: 532.76
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