I was tapering. It was a week and a half before the marathon. No niggles, I was feeling great.
That week I ran a few short runs, 7k and 10k. I rode my bike to work (8k each way) two days in a row.
Felt a slight twinge. Ran a couple of easy runs afterwards and feeling sore.
My last run was on Saturday morning a week and one day before the marathon. 20k with my brother in law. Slow, around 6.15. Got progressively sore through the run.
Limped on Sunday and saw a mate who’s done a fair bit of sports chiro / osteo etc. Said I’d be lucky to run. Had trouble putting trousers on in morning (standing on one leg), and had to change method of getting into the car (bum first then legs in).
Rested for a week and still was sore. Was gutted, but still determined to start and finish. Started and new I was done in the first 2k. Ran 6k then pulled out when I couldn’t raise my leg to run up a gutter.
It’s a pretty bad feeling to DNF a marathon. I did a lot of googling to work out whether I was really injured or just had low tolerance to pain.
One thing gave me comfort. I think on livestrong there’s a post about if you have to change your style to cope with pain then that’s not good and you should stop. I was doing that after the first k when thinking about how I could make it through…
This was September 2018
Sept – Nov 18. Recovery
Took a couple of weeks between MRI and seeing physio for diagnosis. The prognosis was good. 8-10 weeks before running, but ok for swimming. In the first few weeks pushing off the wall wasn’t great, and I kept kicking light. General mobility was ok, but standing up / walking was not great for extended periods. Going to the shops for a few hours resulted in the need to lie down when I got home to take the weight off.
Sitting down at work was ok, but getting in and out of the car was more challenging as I needed to sit first then swing legs around (and I’m 6ft6 so this is not the easiest). The pain eased off after 3-4 weeks, and I really only noticed during prolonged walking, or standing. When I overdid it I got a burning sensation in my groin for the rest of they day and extending into the following day.
Exercise was swimming only. After 6 weeks off I was allowed to walk 3k. Was able to do it, but sore afterwards, so no walking for another 4 weeks. Then started off slowly. Walking for a few weeks. Then through November progressing to walk / run. 1 min run, 5 mins walk. Ramping up by 1 minute running every week or so. No pain whatsoever, felt really good and perfectly normal. During this time was also doing strengthening as well on pelvis / hips / glutes / core. Went for my first run in late November. Feeling great!!
The Diagnosis
The MRI confirmed that I had a pelvic stress fracture of the pubic ramus. You can clearly see the difference on the MRI images between the left and right side. This shot is a cross section taken horizontally (assuming I am standing up), at the base of the pelvis.
What did it feel like?
I ran 6k of the marathon. Stretching made no difference. I tried to change my running style but it made no difference. When I struggled to lift my leg up a gutter I knew it wasn’t good.
When the niggle was developing it just felt like a strain. Stiff to start, but felt ok warming up. Then as I ran over a two week period it hurt more, especially going down hill. Googling told me maybe OP.
After I pulled out I limped back to the train and went home. I could walk, but every step was sore. Standing up ached. I couldn’t stand on one leg to get dressed. I also couldn’t get in the car leg first. Needed to sit the swing my leg around. Sitting was ok.
On Monday I got in to the physio – one experienced in sports. He rejected OP and a groin strain, and referred me to get an MRI.
That week was a big week for me. I had a work conference involving lots of teamwork activities, a dinner and lots of standing, as well was walking through airports. I also was playing guitar for my kids’ school music concert, which involved a full day of rehearsals, followed by two performances on another day, all carting my 30kg amp.
I thought if I can just get through the week then I can recover sitting down at work the next week.
Had the MRI on the Friday, but my physio was then away for a week or so….
Through the next week the day to day pain was better but still hurt. No chance of getting into the car properly or standing on one leg. I did swim a few times, slowly and with minimal kicking.
As the whole aching pain subsided slightly I could isolate the most intense pain to a point right under my pelvis on the left hand side of what I now know as the pubis ramus.
I hate running….
That’s what I always said.
It’s hard
Your legs burn
I’d rather cycle
I always came last at school (well, maybe not quite last, but definitely in the bottom third)
I’ve always done sport, and been proudly average. Played water polo, volleyball, field hockey at school and uni. Nothing representative. After travelling around I started cycling to work once per week around 20k each way. Cycling is mostly enjoyable…
And anyway, I’m 6ft 5 which is too tall for proper running anyway!
And then…the company I worked for was big into the city to surf in Sydney. I had a team and they told me I needed to run. 14km, an iconic Sydney race. Trained a bit under sufferance (14k per week tops). Ran 6 min/k.
Next year ran a bit more. Ran same race at 5.22 min/k. Did a half marathon, hit the wall around 15k and ran 2.03. Vowed never to run a marathon.
And then I got roped in to run the NYC marathon for charity by my sister in law. That’s when I started running more. I thought I trained hard. 3 x cross training sessions per week and up to 50k.
Slight injury in the back of the knee doing hill sprints disrupted my prep, but ran 4.15 at around 6.00 min/k. That was 2016.
In 2017 the bug started to hit more. Took a few months off after the 2016 marathon, but trained for the Sydney marathon in September 2017. Was now running fast runs around 5 min/k and long runs at 5.30. Unfortunately got a fever 3 days before, but still ran 5 hours and was rooted….
The place where I sometimes buy shoes has a running podiatrist. I saw him in December and the main thing I needed to work was increasing my cadence from 160 to 175. Felt hard but after 6 months felt natural.
2018…started off very strongly. Running 3-4 days per week. Sydney marathon scheduled for September. Pushed the mileage up to 50-60k, then up to 70+ in August, 6 days per week. Ran the city to surf in 63 min at 4.35. That’s top 10% of males, and easily into the red group. Only minor soreness afterwards.
Come September I was running sub 5 min/k comfortably. I’d run 30k at 5.08, so was dreaming of a 3.30 marathon. I actually felt like a proper runner.
A journey through running and cycling 