Petestack Blog

It’s something most experienced runners probably develop a kind of sixth sense for… we all get (injury) niggles, but what matters and what doesn’t? Can I just keep running blithely on (today, tomorrow, next week), do I need to watch this or should I stop now? I’ve basically developed my own three-point scale (ignore, monitor, stop) and it’s worked for years. Of the three categories, ‘monitor’ is possibly the most interesting because ‘ignore’ and ‘stop’ are pretty clear-cut self-explanatory! Twelve days ago I followed several weeks of five-days-on, two-days-off, increased mileage with five consecutive rest days to give a front-of-ankle niggle (irritated tendon or tendon sheath?) more time to settle. So this was a classic ‘monitor’ case, which I then put to the test last Saturday on a planned 10-miler to Lairigmòr and back which somehow became a 13-mile hill run with a spontaneous diversion to ‘return’ over Mam na Gualainn and Beinn na Caillich… a change that was both tempting on a gorgeous April late afternoon and I felt justified as largely slower, more time on feet than pounding. And pleased to say it was fine, with the ankle feeling great and nothing to monitor or ignore, but then that niggle in one ankle was replaced by a different one in the other foot on a short village run the very next day. So another day off, three days on (with respectable mileage) and another rest day yesterday because I’d arranged to run with someone today and was prepared for another longer rest period afterwards if necessary. And, while I felt said niggle at times running through Glen Coe and over the Devil’s Staircase with Angus Mehan today, it actually feels better tonight than it did yesterday. So another case of play-it-by-ear, listen-to-your-body, but I’m confident it’s just ‘monitor’, not serious and can be properly dismissed by listening to said body as necessary…

Oh yes, and I enjoyed running with Angus. He’s the son of a friend, training for the Glencoe Marathon and really running on this class of rough trails for the first time, so it was great to be able to help by guiding him over ground I know well and hopefully trying to get across some useful stuff. :-)