I've
been running for a couple of years now... in fact I ran my first road race in
1986 (A 10km out in Belleville).
Over the those early years I don't ever remember being injured... maybe a rolled ankle, but nothing bad enough to stop me running.
Then in 1994 while racing my first marathon (hadn't run 1 in 4 years and the first 2 had been for fun!) I tore my one hammie. With about 5km to go it felt is if something jumped up out of the tar road to Bredasdorp and stuck it's cat like claws into the back of my leg... (yes I was running Voet) It wasn't a monster tear so I could run slowly while receiving treatment.
So the question is why?
And while one can only really guess, with hind sight it's a good guess... so I would say I had raced too hard the week before and because I really didn't know anything about racing marathons I wasn't really ready to race that fast. So the weak muscle just couldn't take it any longer!
I might have had a little calf trouble in the next couple of years but nothing to worry about. And nothing to remember, that said I didn't race Cape Town marathon in '97... I did run fast but with tight calfs racing wasn't on. (moving to racing flats, now called minimums shoes can do that!)
Role onto '98 and a stress fracture of the patella! When one gets knocked with an injury you always find yourself asking: Why Why Why... and while I should just say over training that isn't the full story! I would say it was the long hard run lots of them on steep cambers. Of cause it didn't help that I kept running for months while my knee get worse and worse...
Over the next 15 years I only had a couple of calf tears. The calfs were strong but didn't have the elasticity for speed! Then in 2013 I tore both abductors!
All these injuries I would say are because of dehydration! And not from not drinking during a race, but not ready drinking my 8 cups of water that we're told too drink on a daily basis! (A normal day would have me drinking about a large glass of milk with breakfast and then nothing really till a couple of glasses of wine in the evening!)
Think of it like this: think of your body as a piece of Boerewors. You can bend it no worries. Now take the water out of it... turn it into a piece of droewors, then bend it! That's an injury waiting to happen!
2016... smashed my knee and that lead to a meniscus tear!
2017... now favouring the other leg I tore the other meniscus!
Over the those early years I don't ever remember being injured... maybe a rolled ankle, but nothing bad enough to stop me running.
Then in 1994 while racing my first marathon (hadn't run 1 in 4 years and the first 2 had been for fun!) I tore my one hammie. With about 5km to go it felt is if something jumped up out of the tar road to Bredasdorp and stuck it's cat like claws into the back of my leg... (yes I was running Voet) It wasn't a monster tear so I could run slowly while receiving treatment.
So the question is why?
And while one can only really guess, with hind sight it's a good guess... so I would say I had raced too hard the week before and because I really didn't know anything about racing marathons I wasn't really ready to race that fast. So the weak muscle just couldn't take it any longer!
I might have had a little calf trouble in the next couple of years but nothing to worry about. And nothing to remember, that said I didn't race Cape Town marathon in '97... I did run fast but with tight calfs racing wasn't on. (moving to racing flats, now called minimums shoes can do that!)
Role onto '98 and a stress fracture of the patella! When one gets knocked with an injury you always find yourself asking: Why Why Why... and while I should just say over training that isn't the full story! I would say it was the long hard run lots of them on steep cambers. Of cause it didn't help that I kept running for months while my knee get worse and worse...
Over the next 15 years I only had a couple of calf tears. The calfs were strong but didn't have the elasticity for speed! Then in 2013 I tore both abductors!
All these injuries I would say are because of dehydration! And not from not drinking during a race, but not ready drinking my 8 cups of water that we're told too drink on a daily basis! (A normal day would have me drinking about a large glass of milk with breakfast and then nothing really till a couple of glasses of wine in the evening!)
Think of it like this: think of your body as a piece of Boerewors. You can bend it no worries. Now take the water out of it... turn it into a piece of droewors, then bend it! That's an injury waiting to happen!
2016... smashed my knee and that lead to a meniscus tear!
2017... now favouring the other leg I tore the other meniscus!
 |
| Shandy doesn't run with me but when I'm not running she's my best friend! |
So the simple things learnt are:
Keep hydrated (drink your 8 glasses of water and more when training)
Keep balanced (cross train, small things help. Don't train while injured!)
