I've had a nagging doubt over the past few days. Maybe I'm suffering from a minor niggle which I'm now over and the suspected stress fracture was merely a phantom injury. I went to the GPs a couple of days ago in the hope she might agree to send me for an x-ray but she refused, pointing out (correctly) that stress fractures are invisible until they start to heal. She also suggested I may have the dreaded shin splints but I think that was more the result of my inability to properly describe my symptoms, including not being able to show her exactly where it hurt. My conclusion - I have an injury or do I?
Despite yesterday's return to the bike and a lot of walking around in clumpy office shoes, the lower left leg has felt totally normal over the past couple of days. Walking to the tube station this morning I was absent mindedly thinking about pulling out the running shoes and doing one last double-check around the block later on, when a train pulled in, easily catchable so long as I ran over a footbridge and onto the platform. So run I did and the lower leg twinges started as soon as I'd leapt onto the train and they've been quietly nagging me throughout the day.
The return of the twinge has not been all negative - it's reminded me of the promise I'd made - to get stronger than I was when I was during my last "Run". So tonight I did my first "Runner's Circuit" which you can find in Sam Murphy's book Running Well - I did all the ones which didn't involve leaving the ground: lunges, calf raises, one-leg dips, step-ups, hamstring hacks and squats. The good news was I could do the required 20 of each. The bad news was that I've learnt that my knees have developed a highly embarrassing crunching noise every time they bend.
Next stop: the swimming baths?
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