Oh no! Look at what I did….. I went and got injured………………

The foundation for my injury started a very long time back, decades even maybe and it has taken me months ( 6 months and counting) to completely understand what has been going on with my body.

I initially got injured in Sept 2013 just prior to KTM. But pushing myself through the Half Marathon with a viral just expedited the entire process. The next three months saw me stretching myself like a rubber-band every opportunity I got. I was counting down the days to SCMM. It was going to be my maiden SCMM attempt and I really did want to be in prime form for the event. An experienced runner would’ve shown some maturity and chosen to let go of this window with a view of the future, but me being me – jump-started my training with a race – The Midnight Marathon 10K – where again, I pushed myself to a PB. Those that have been running for a while will agree that this was not the best way to come back from an injury.

The next four weeks saw me kickstart my training attempt from nothing to a Full Marathon – again, not an ideal training scenario. The new year came, with it came a promise of my Full Marathon Mega event. SCMM came, I got a PB, came out on top again – but at what cost? Rest is just as important as training to become stronger. But did I listen? NO! Because Rules are not meant for me and I am meant to break them all. I started running after a days rest.

I continued running and clocking my miles. There was a slight niggle in my right shin, but I chose to ignore it. The month of Feb 2014 came by. After my SCMM result, I had started looking for a coach. I had been doing everything unstructured and wrong and was hoping that with a coach to oversee my preparations, I would start working towards a peak. I found him – Lt. Gen. ( Retd.) Dr. S.A. Cruze – the daddy of all coaches. He was kind enough to agree to take me under his wing and start prepping me as his prototype Marathoner. I was honored, excited and so many other things. This took me to the training center in Pune. We did testing for about a week – this testing included Strength correlations, VO2 Max, Cardiovascular conditioning, Lactate testing, Threshold testing and Ammonia tests. The first red flag came up here. Ammonia measures fatigue in the body. Normal ammonia levels should be under 50 for an athlete. The Max. reading goes up to 300 on the machine. My first few readings gave the machine an error. In other words they were over 300.

There was another problem – when we started testing my blood, it was noticed that my body was not using fat as the fuel but the glycogen in my body as fuel – which meant that I was constantly exhausted and more importantly always working in my anaerobic zone. My coach clearly mentioned that he did not understand HOW I was running these distances at the pace I was. He said that my body was not supporting me and my races were being run purely through the strength of spirit and my mind. We got around to rectifying these issues and get me under a structured regime for my first international Marathon which was scheduled for April 2014. With less than 3 months to D-day, I started training – HARD!!!

Remember that niggle that I ignored post SCMM in Jan, it was slowly getting worse the entire time. I also happen to have a very high threshold of pain. I was really looking forward to seeing the results of structured training this time and did not want to crush my hopes of a stellar performance in Hanover. There was a lurking suspicion that I maybe suffering from shin splints but I didn’t give too much thought to it. Me being me, I was just hoping and praying that it would just go away one day. In short, this is not going to come between me and my training……until one day…As always I woke up early in the morning to head out for my run. But, unlike always, this time when I placed my foot on the floor, I winced in pain and retracted it back onto the bed. This was obviously serious.

So I made my way to the hospital. After an MRI, it was confirmed that I have a severe stress fracture on my right tibia. The only way for a stress fracture to heal is rest. My fate was sealed. There would be no more running for the next 8 weeks at least. My event was in six weeks. Again, I was hoping that miraculously my leg would recover and I would be in a state to compete – cos…well, Life couldn’t be so harsh to me. I had worked my butt off and I was not going to give up. So I went into active rest mode, where I continued cycling, swimming and weight training to ensure that my endurance levels do not fall. As the date for take-off got closer, reality slowly started to dawn on me – I was not going to be able to compete in the event after all. A part of me was still hoping that somehow I would be 100% on D-day. The possibility of it was looking rather bleak though. Since Ankush and me had already booked our tickets, we decided to make it a holiday instead of a runvacation.

In my head, it was a matter of a couple weeks, I would come back and start my training again – because the 8 weeks would be up. So I had a fun vacation across Europe, ate fabulous food, met some new people, caught up with old friends, had new experiences together, got lost in the streets of new towns, tried to read books in a new language, looked at architecture from a different era, looked at the world with a different perspective and did all those things that I had planned to do. Well, all except run around the cobbled streets and explore the stunning trails around there. But, I placated myself well, I told myself that this is only the first time I am visiting and there were going to many many more times that I would revisit and own the streets in my preferred way.

Once back in Bangalore, the TCS fever was on – people were going crazy, runners were all over the roads of Bangalore and the entire city seemed to be gearing up for the event. I had hoped that come 8 weeks, I would need to go in for another MRI which would confirm that everything was all good and I was fresh as a horse on steroids after a month’s rest. However, this was not to be the case, two weeks passed by ( vacation) and then four weeks did. Soon, it was the beginning of June. I went back to the doctor, we didn’t need an MRI to know that I had not healed. I was perplexed. This was not right – things were not right – Why am I not healing? I am doing the right things, I am following the orders. It is not fair. These were the thoughts running through my head.

At my peak I had been training for five hours a day. I was constantly on endorphins and generally in a good mood thanks to it. I was on a diet which required me to stuff my face most of the day and my days revolved around training, diet and the new venture – Protons. With my injury, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands – a lot of time to think and a lot of time to throw myself a pity party. My days grew gray – it was hard for me to wake up in the morning because I couldn’t do what I loved the most. Since my condition had not improved in the last three months, the doctor had advised me to move into complete rest instead of active rest. I went into a complete crash mode. There were days I didn’t leave my room and it took all the strength of spirit to have a shower, get out and start my day. I got grumpier, angrier, snappier and moodier – I was a ticking time bomb and no one knew when or what would set me off. I started retreating into my shell because that’s the kind of person I am. I love my space and always retreat into it to gain strength, recover and recuperate. Each person has their way of dealing with things – Right or Wrong, I don’t know but, this is mine.

#Injury #ProtonsRunning #Running #BangaloreRunners #Rehabilitation