I’m wondering now whether I should call this an injury. Over the past few days I’ve had a few people ask about my “injury” but I’ve felt a little bit of a fraud describing it as such because it (a) didn’t hurt and (b) wasn’t going to be fixed. However, over the past few days things have changed a little bit. For one it’s started to hurt and for two the physio has mentioned researching treatment options back in the UK. It seems that the tendon does not retract immediately but takes some time and thus treatment options may change with time.

Given this information alot of what has happened over the past few days makes more  sense. When this first happened I guessed that something must have snapped as it made sense that that was the only way I’d end up with a toe I couldn’t bend  even though there was no pain. I was running and cycling pain free on it over the weekend and also on Monday morning. I then saw the podiatrist and the physio. The podiatrist was not convinced that it had snapped as he’d have expected more pain and swelling and as a result he had the physio try and loosen up the area of the calf where the tendon attaches. Not sure whether this was what caused it but immediately after this I was virtually unable to run. It was so painful in the arch of my foot. Since the podiatrist had given me various inserts I tried removing them to establish what was the problem. I chose (taking Jo’s great advice) to rest it for that day. Then tuesday I didn’t run on it at all but cycled. Felt strong and managed 130km but intermittently there was pain in my foot. Similarly as I ran to physio this morning though this time I was able to run the whole way despite the discomfort.

I told the physio, given his explanation that the tendon would recede over time, that it felt like the pain was moving back along my foot almost as if the end of the tendon was moving back. I had an ultra sound scan and this confirmed the rupture. The lady doing the scan said it had balled up and receded. I asked her where it had receded to and she put her finger exactly where the pain is ! Seeing the podiatrist tomorrow so hopefully get some idea of treatment options.

It is reassuring to know what is wrong. It is painful to run on and I’m not sure whether 26.2 miles is really feasible but I don’t feel too worried that it’s going to do extra damage to run on it. In fact, I wonder whether running on it will help resolve the issue. Traveling around like this though does make it difficult to get treatment. I may have to change plans and stay in one place to fix it.

Today I’ve comfort ate – had a lot of spare time getting this treated. Doing me the world of good in terms of treatment but does mean I’ve had rather too many coffees and cakes. However, this is in line with my new attitude towards diet – RELAX. I may not be as light as I’d like but I’m certainly happy. I’ve removed a stress from my life and that I think is helping. Out here I’m not able to weigh myself so I merely assess it on look. I am looking reasonable lean – I guess several back to back 40-50 hour training weeks doesn’t leave much room for weight gain. Also, my aim is to be lean and mean for Kona it doesn’t have to be earlier… for Taupo I’ll be happy just being mean.

I met Jo following my scan and we hung out in Christchurch. The town is growing on me. Jo, yet again, is being super diligent in the run up to the race. I hope that come the run up to Kona I can show the same sort of discipline and ability to arrive at the start line it perfect shape to rip it up.