A very quick post to say post-Europe we decided we couldn’t really justify the cost of flights to Sydney for the Blackmores Marathon (for Jeremy) and Half Marathon (for me), so we withdrew our entries.

While we were away the backache that I had after Longest Run returned occasionally (probably due to running and walking on average 20+ kilometres a day sightseeing) and I could rectify it simply with stretching until I managed what what my physiotherapist has diagnosed as another sprained facet joint; this time in my lower back. I’m under treatment, but the City to Surf Half Marathon might be a little iffy – I’ve entered anyway, via work, and will change my entry to the 12km if I have to. I’ve the OK absolutely to do the 12km run; my back will probably hurt afterwards – that’s a guarantee, but it won’t worsen. We’ve got another few weeks to get me back to relative normal before then.

I did a similar injury back in January 2012 in my neck which took about 3 months of physiotherapy to fix, so my past two weeks of dramatic improvement has made me quite pleased – I was dreading my second appointment after my diagnosis, because the thought of 3 months of therapy stretching out in front of me was horribly depressing, but I started out with 65% of full movement, and now I seem to bob around 90-95% which is pretty good.

My plan is still to do the Six Inch Trail Marathon this December, and this shouldn’t stop me training for that, but it has emphasised my need to work on my core strength, my gluteal muscles and hip flexors. Having a solid core reportedly wouldn’t have prevented the facet joint sprain but it will help my running and assist my swimming technique become less ‘powerboat’ style, with my legs providing drag in the water. The physio has advised that I need to develop a better posture when sitting, as my tendency is to slump. My posture when walking isn’t too bad, but when I sit I slouch and that won’t assist my healing now and would likely impact on free movement when I become elderly.

I think around the tail end of the Longest Run my technique suffered as I tired, which was what lead to injury and soreness. Jeremy’s calf muscle problems were caused by a similar situation, so I think some work on strengthening muscles to decrease the likelihood of poor technique should help some. Very little will fix tiredness at the 30km mark, but I hope this will make me less prone to injury at that point.