Ouch!

Well, after a really busy bank holiday weekend I'm back exercising, albeit slowly.

Friday's bike ride started a little later than expected and I managed to get lost in Lanarkshire en-route to Leadhills… I ended up all the way down to Cumnock in East Ayrshire. Flew along a few sections of road with a wonderful tail-wind but ended up having to re-trace my route and fight a mighty headwind for most of the way home! Still, I ended up doing 5 hours and 19 minutes, covering 138.2 km, so a pretty decent training ride.  Once back in the house I went for a gentle jog just to see how the legs, and in particular, the left knee would cope.  Not brilliantly well was the verdict - I managed about 15 minutes and then spent another 10-15 stretching out.

Spent a fantastic weekend at my sister-in-law's wedding, so no training on Saturday - I'm not sure if my dancing really counts  :-)

On Sunday I was scheduled for a 2.5 hour run, all was going reasonably well until after 55 minutes (and about as far away from home as I had planned to run) my I.T. band on my left leg stopped me dead in my tracks. I struggled back up the hill in Chatelherault and tried to stretch it out but to no avail. I ended up walking 1 hour and 40 minutes back towards home, often doubled-over in pain until I spotted my wife driving to the gym. I managed to flag her down and she drove me the 500m or so home. Never have I been so pleased to get a lift!

The I.T. band can often become sore when quickly ramping up exercise - although I think I damaged this on the Caledonian Etape a couple of weeks ago.

So, with only 32 days left to the race I went for a sports physio session at The Treatment Hub in Hamilton. Grant 'dug in' to both the legs and now I'm feeling a little looser, although pretty sore. Hopefully in a day or so the IT band will have loosened off a little and after a few more sessions I should be back to full fitness. I've decided that I'm going to get one sports massage a week until the race to try and prevent any further injuries.  Looking at the plan, I've done pretty much all of the training sessions I need to ensure I can complete the distances in all the disciplines - the next step is getting to the starting line fit and healthy. Legs - don't fail me now!