From Stress Fracture to 70.3!

2024! 16 weeks until the London Marathon - A race I had been dreaming of running since I was 15 years old, when I first got into running.

I joined my club, Best Athletics, back in August 2022 when I first ventured to the big city of London. Something that I was incredibly inspired by was a huge proportion of the members completing and racing marathons -  all over the world - in some spectacular times!! This was my spark to enter my first marathon.

With a London Championship entry from my Half Marathon time of 1:23:00 I was super motivated, excited and buzzing to race in my new home of London in a marathon 26.2 miles! With my athletics background consisting of shorter distances running a marathon has always seemed like a huge challenge. 

January marked the start of my 16 week marathon block with my running coach Nick Bester who started coaching me back in February 2023. Learning from a 2:20 marathon runner and a top quality coach I knew I would achieve the best result I could.

Iten, The Home of Champions

My block started with an experience of a lifetime - adventuring to Kenya to the town of Iten, The Home of Champions. I was super lucky to spend 3 weeks out in the Rift Valley training with the best at an altitude of 2400 m above sea level.

A few of the benefits of training at altitude:

🩸 Blood changes 🩸

Being so high above sea level means there is less partial pressure of oxygen resulting in less oxygen in the blood. This stimulates the body's erythropoietin (EPO) gene to make new Red Blood Cells + Haemoglobin (Hb) shown to take around 2-3 weeks!

 For every 100 hours at altitude there is a 1% increase in Hb!

💪🏽 Intramuscular changes 💪🏽

An important gene called H1 alpha has shown to increase at altitude! This gene signals an increase in capilarisation and mitochondria within the muscle cell - increasing that endurance capability!

🏃🏽‍♀️ Running economy + efficiency 🏃🏽‍♀️

Training at altitude improves our bodies ability to handle lactate in as little as 7-10 days 😮

The physiological adaptations to altitude training is pretty phenomenal yet  my biggest takeaway from Kenya was the pure simplicity of life and the magic the country brought to me!

Touching back down in London town I felt incredibly inspired, rejuvenated and motivated to hit my first block of marathon training with a bang! Returning to the Best Athletics track sessions on a Tuesday morning, Adidas runners London on Thursdays and my weekend long runs with the Best Athletics sub 3 group. Training with others is so powerful, keeping you accountable to hit those paces and to share the experience with (+ of course post run coffee).

Three weeks out from London + a Half Marathon tune up in Kew Gardens was on the training diary. 

That week leading up to the race I felt pretty damn exhausted - It was one of the toughest weeks of training not only physically but mentally too - Not only was I training for the Marathon but I also had my 70.3 in the back of my mind so it was a huge balance of keeping the other disciplines ticking along the side 🏊🏼‍♀️🚴🏽‍♀️

The Kew Gardens Richmond Half 🌼

Throughout my marathon block and since June last year I was still managing ‘Hamstring Tendinopathy’. 

From the start of the race my hamstring was pretty much on fire but as runners we like to push through and ignore the niggles - 7 kilometres into the race all of my hamstring pain radiated to my left side and I was in so much pain.

I decided to drop down to marathon pace rather than giving it a full send - I was the third lady and had some family support who I did not want to let down so I just continued to keep going!

That day was pretty terrifying, in tears on the phone to my mum as I ran back to my bike.

I could barely walk, let alone run.

The next few days consisted of limping, struggling to get in and out of bed and just in so much fear with what had happened to my body…

With my determination and little hope inside me that I would still make it to the start line I had dates with the elliptical, indoor trainer sessions, swimming in the pool with arms only and gentle yoga for the mind. Things were looking very different than I imagined two weeks out.

After an emergency MRI and Physiotherapy advice I had a sacral stress fracture.

It hit me hard having to pull out of the London Marathon, a race I’ve been dreaming of since I was young + first found my love of running. Suddenly having the ability to run taken away was so crushing!

My journey of training for London was incredible, the training and the experiences I’ve had will never leave me. I learnt so much about myself and the sport of running which only fuelled me to recover and get back on my feet again stronger than before.

I was definitely there at the side lines to support my club, athletes and friends running the London Marathon and of course fuelling my motivation to come back stronger!

The Recovery Rollercoaster 

The sacrum is a triangular bone at the base of your spine sitting between your two iliac bones. A sacral stress fracture takes a little longer to heal than other stress fractures due to the bone matrix consisting of spongy trabecular bone. With this in mind I knew the journey ahead was going to be a long one.

This blog written by Brad Beer helped me so much with my recovery and knowledge of the stress fracture site: https://www.pogophysio.com.au/blog/sacral-bone-stress-injuries-in-runners/

I can truly say my recovery journey was a rollercoaster ride full of ups and downs. The mental battle of running 120 km to 0 was mind blowing. As much as I am good at putting on a pretty brave happy face and staying positive there is always another side. The darker side, the negative voice creeping in, the feelings of guilt, shame and self doubt resulting in negative thoughts and habits that have never served me in the past. For me daily journaling and small social media detoxes (yes, that includes strava)  is what nourished my mind.

Injuries sure do suck - to anyone going through a dark period right now you’re not alone - be patient - your time is coming and the light is shining a little brighter!

As the weeks went by in my recovery I was able to add a little more into my weekly plan from swimming to then cycling on some speedy bikes  and introducing myself to aqua jogging!

8 weeks had passed and it was a trip to my physiotherapist to monitor my progress and potentially be given the go ahead to run again!

A thorough assessment of my sacrum including tests and palpitations and I was given the go ahead to run again! My first run back was on my Birthday which was the best gift of all. My road to running started off by pretty much following a couch to 5km kind of plan made up of walk, run intervals with no more than 3 runs a week to allow enough time between pounding the roads to recover. 

I had 12 weeks until my first ever 70.3 so if all went to plan I was going to make it to the start line! 

My return to running honestly went so smoothly there were little to no niggles along the way. I put this down to my nutrition, really prioritising my energy balance, progressive rehab and strength training and being disciplined to run no more than 3 times a week and building my volume by 10% hitting that sweet spot!

Ironman 70.3 Zell am See

Taper week for my first 70.3!  A time for reflection and to remember just how far I had come. Four  months ago unable to run suffering with a stress fracture to being finally back building my run volume and taking on such an incredible challenge and  going from crutches  to 🏊🏼‍♀️🚴🏽‍♀️🏃🏽‍♀️

The nerves were super real in the two weeks building up - self doubt knocking on the door - (you’re not strong enough, you’re going to break again, you’re going to look silly) - when these thoughts appeared I try my best to reflect on how far I have come and just I strong I really am 🦋

Lots of mini brick sessions, swims and it was time to learn how to pack a bike into a bike box! 

Arriving in Austria was the most perfect way to end a summer I had not planned for 2024. One of the most beautiful countries I have been to with the crystal clear lakes and mountains surrounding us - I knew the course was going to be incredible! 

Race day finally arrived, I could not believe I was there buzzing, strong, fit and healthy! I can finally say ‘I did it’ 

From start to finish I enjoyed every moment of my first 70.3 from the views, the hill climbs and the sparkling lake - Austria had so much to offer.

I finish the race in a time of 05:21:57 which put me in 11th place in my age category - with the goal of just completing the race in one piece I was over the moon!

A huge thank you to all my friends, loved ones and my coaches for supporting + believing in me every step of my recovery!

So what’s next?

For now I’m going to have a little time away from the sport of triathlon to focus more on my running build with Valencia Half Marathon just around the corner!

As a runner who seems to respond better to lower volume I will most certainly be continuing with the world of multisport 🏊🏼‍♀️ 🚴🏽‍♀️ 🏃🏽‍♀️ really shows the power of cross training, running a new 5km PB off of the 70.3 training block!

If you are facing an injury/illness yourself and would like to chat I am more than happy to share my journey and be a listening ear!

Much love,

Coach Amie x