Something is missing lately. Which makes me happy because it’s something I can do without. Pain. Pain in my belly, to be more precise. Pain in my right iliopsoas, to be very precise. It has been there for almost two years; now it’s gone. I think that’s one of the benefits of being injured. You have time to heal.
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Okay, my right ankle – the torn ligaments – is still not okay. Far from it. Last week, Sara and I were in Bayern, Germany. We did a few little runs in the Zugspitze region around Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A ten kilometre trail run, a ten kilometre hike up Mount Wank, and I did a fifteen kilometre trail run to the Pflegersee and Werdenfels Castle. I couldn’t run downhill on the first one. I was okay on the second one, and I was struggling downhill again on the third one. So yeah, my ankle needs more time.
Iliopsoas
But, but … my right iliopsoas didn’t give me any problems. It normally flares up after a trail run. It also flares up after a long drive, coming back from an ultra run. This time I don’t feel anything.
Okay, these trail runs were relatively little runs. Twice ten kilometres, once fifteen kilometres. That’s not my regular fifty plus kilometres. The most climbing we have done is a thousand metres. That’s not two thousand or more. Then again, my iliopsoas have been bothering me after short runs in the Ardennes as well. So, I do see it as a step in the right direction.
Ardennes
All this climbing is still pretty new for me. I’m Dutch. We don’t have mountains. Where I live, we don’t even have hills. A bridge over the canal by Lommel, across the Belgium border, is all I have. I go deep into Belgium to get some altitude, but even in the Ardennes, my longest climbs are about half an hour. That’s nothing compared with the Alps.
And that’s where I’ve been racing and training for the last two years. Twice the Dolomiti Extreme Trail (11k, 50k) in Italy, once the UTMB CCC (okay, half of it) in France, and a training week in Oetz (Austria). Going from no altitude to lots of altitude was a bit too much for my iliopsoas, and it got irritated. During a race or training session it would be fine; afterwards, it would hurt.
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Rest is the answer
I knew rest would be the answer, but with another try at the UTMB CCC coming up, there was no time to rest. Well, tearing my ankle ligaments changed that. Suddenly I was unable to run long distances. I was unable to go to the Ardennes and train. All I could do was bike, kickbike and – very carefully – do a little easy run on the road. That’s not what I like but that’s what I needed. So yeah, there are benefits to being injured.
Last week, Sara and I ran halfway up and down Kramerspitz in Germany, and the day after, we went to the top of Mount Wank. Both without any problems. Yesterday, we drove back home. Again, no iliopsoas flaring up. I’m sad I’m injured, but at the same time, I’m happy. This period of relative rest has given my iliopsoas what it needed. Hopefully, it also gives my ankle what it needs.
Keep on running
