2024 running retro
A disappointing year. Compared to last year and other years, I achieved the least.
What went well?
Despite being injured for a large portion of the year and having lots of time off, I ran 882.8 km in total. That’s the third highest volume out of the four years I’ve been running. It’s not bad considering the injury and it means I did get out when I felt like I could.
I did some fun long trail runs, had a good pace at the start of the year, and cross-trained when I felt like it’d ease niggles before they turned into injuries. I tried new routes and embraced the local hills.
In early April, I ran an old favourite trail route around the Cilan headland at a quick pace, and set a course record for one of the final kilometres of the 15km lap. My first course record for a Strava segment! I dreamed of running that fast over hills when we lived in the area.
In late April, with bluebells out in force and buds turning into young green leaves, I set a PR for the 30k: 2h48m. I felt great!
But that’s where it started going wrong.
What could have gone better?
The injury started on that 30k in April, a couple of weeks before I was due to run a trail marathon. Towards the end of the run, I slipped on some mud with my foot overstriding. I slid forward and twinged my hip somehow.
It plagued me for several weeks and I could never quite shake the dull pain. It felt like it was in my thighs as well as the ball of my hip, but I took it easy for over a month and didn’t run.
In June, I booked myself in for a gait analysis. My hip was still in pain but two-out-of-ten rather than five, so it seemed a sensible plan. The analysis showed that I was an overstrider, I didn’t stand tall, and there was no springiness or bounce in my run. A lot of the force and impact was no doubt travelling to my hip, a potential cause of the injury.
In late June, I crept out to test my hip. I changed my form and kept the volume low, doing two to three runs a week, no more than 5km per run. I started getting the train to Blackfriars and cycling in to the office to keep the ticker turning. It helped but I couldn’t do too much. The hip would still hurt with normal movement, including walking.
In July I bought a gravel bike, tired of being still. It was supposed to be the summer of fastpacking! So I went bikepacking instead and had a lot of fun. The hip hurt after the long rides but I thought that was just due to working new muscles.
In August we finished the South Downs Way, which was a glorious trip despite my trusty old tent breaking. It served me well for twelve years!
In September I brought it back, including a couple long runs and a fun park run at Stormont in Belfast. But by October I’d stopped running entirely.
I managed two more runs in 2024: both park runs, in Barmouth, North Wales, and Tokyo, Japan. But that concluded my time on two legs. There was noticeable pain after each outing, and since then it has continued. My hip hurts when I’m sitting down for long periods, and it’s always stiff in the morning after a night in bed.
This Tuesday I’m seeing a physio at the doctor’s surgery. I’m a bit miffed as they wrote this off as a muscle imbalance in May and prescribed me an app, for strength & conditioning. I was already doing a fair amount of strength & conditioning work, and it always felt skeletal rather than muscular in nature.
So, yeah, a really disappointing year. But I’m glad I’m getting some help, finally.
Here’s to 2025 being more active (hopefully).