Daniel Lloyd: Of those of you wondering why there's been no updates and no half marathon
at all, it's because I got injured just two weeks before the end of it and I've not been
any better since. Three weeks after getting injured, I decided to do something about it.
I have come to Total Therapy to see Rick, who is a cycling fan, to see if he can sort me out.
[music] Rick: Just looking at you now,
don't move, we can see there's more tension on the right than the left.
Resist me pushing towards the wall, resist me pushing down, relax that down.
It looks like a bit of a repetitive injury, a little bit of high ankle sprain in there.
This will be a Grade 1 [unintelligible 00:00:57] strain. We know that because a Grade
3 is a complete rapture. Grade 1 is about 5% of the fibers that are just irritated,
Grade 2 there's masses of swelling and more than 5% but it is not a complete rupture. We
know that it's usually two to three weeks of rest then, you already have mobilization and it should
be healing quite well. How long has it been now? Dan: Two and a half weeks. I've still been walking
a fair bit with the [unintelligible 00:01:29] though. We haven't run
for two and half weeks though. One week on from my first chiro
appointment with Rick, and about almost four weeks on from my injury, I'm back.
I am feeling slightly better actually. A bit more optimistic about finally being able to run again.
We'll see what Rick's got to say. Let's go in. Rick: It's good to see you, mate.
Dan: You too. How are doing? Rick: Very well, sir, very well.
[music] Dan:
I noticed when I got out of the shower last week that the left ankle was quite a lot bigger than
the right. I don't know if it still is, is it? Rick: It is actually a little bit swollen.
[music] Mark:
Well, Dan I was hoping we wouldn't be sat here in a few weeks' time and we are. Now,
unfortunately, obviously, you're injured as you've said already. Update us what's going on.
Dan: Well I did the longest run, I didn't complete it, but I was out,
two weeks to go until the half marathon going to do 20K's. In my head, I thought, "I'll do the
full 21 on the day just as a test." About 12K into it, I had a slight niggle here on my outer ankle,
the sort of niggle that you get all the time when you're running. I thought it'd probably
go off. It got a bit worse and a bit worse and a bit worse to the point where I thought,
"I'm going to have to just stop here." The trouble was because I was doing a very long run, I'd done
a big loop. I was in the middle of nowhere in the New Forest somewhere and it was quite
a walk to get to anywhere I could be picked up. It was when I started walking that I realized how
bad it was. I don't know, I guess because you've got pain going on when you're running anyway,
when the rest of the pain stopped and it was only my ankle, I was like, "Actually I've done
something here." With my old mindset of being an athlete and being a lot younger than I am now,
I thought it would be a few days, I'd be all right. Four weeks on it's better but not 100%
better. I wouldn't be running on it still. Mark Threlfall: Is there anything you think may
have caused or is just friction [crosstalk]--? Dan: I don't really know. I just wonder whether it
was related to the shin splints which were on the same leg. I had the same injury and you told me
to take a couple of days off and this run on this Sunday was just a few days after that so I'd had
two days off. Actually, that was my concern on the run, constantly thinking, "How's my shin feeling?"
I could just vaguely feel it and then just as I was thinking about that, the pain came on on my
ankle. Whether or not it was related I don't know but this one's certainly been the more long term
because we're now four weeks down the road. Mark: Yes. It doesn't sound, from what I
understand, severe, a serious, serious trauma like a stress fracture or anything. The problem
with tendons and anything lower limb for that matter, is that you're always putting weight on
it and when you're walking around so it's so hard to recover from. What's the chiropractor you've
been seeing suggested? What advice are you-- Dan: A few exercises. Basically anything that
will get fresh blood into that area. I've got one of those-- is it stress bands? What
do you call them? Mark: Therabands.
Dan: Therabands, yes. Just move my ankle outwards, putting it down, and bending my
leg forward, et cetera, just to get, I guess, a bit of strength in there and just some mobility
really and fresh blood back into the area to try and get it to recover. It is getting better.
There were points where I was really struggling to just walk properly on it. It was quite
frustrating the recovery because there'd be a day where I'd suddenly get up and think,
"Actually this is not far off gone," and you think you've cracked it. Then, the day after,
get out of a chair and think, "Oh, actually, it's still really bad and I'm struggling to walk
properly on it." That's been frustrating. Almost a roller coaster of recovery from this because
it hasn't just been a linear gradually getting better, it's been up and down.
Mark: Absolutely. Now the big question, have you totally lost your motivation for doing
this half marathon? Obviously, it's a few weeks or more now of no running.
Are you still keen to do the half marathon? Dan: No, I can't be arsed now. [laughs]
No, I'm only joking. I'm definitely going to do it at some point. This is something
that we've gone back years with. We were supposed to do that Bath Half weren't we,
and that got snowed off. I lost a bit of motivation after that. This seemed like the
perfect thing. I felt so good the fact that I'd-- because I was expecting to get injured seven weeks
of ticking off pretty much every training session and not getting injured felt like a win in itself
and then I guess the inevitable happened. Initially, again, I was thinking, "Well, if
it's only a week, it won't take long to get back to where I was," but four weeks down the road,
I do want to do one. I guess the positive from this could be that if it is going to take me
a bit longer to get back to running and a bit longer again to train for a half marathon the
second time, it might get to the point where we've actually got an event to train for.
Mark: Yes, exactly that would be really cool. Dan: As opposed to just me running
with you as my domestique. Mark: Is that not good enough?
[laughter] Dan: It would have been fine. I was fully
motivated for that but the thought of running with a load of people would be even better.
Mark: Yes, [unintelligible 00:06:13]. Actually talking of other people, we've been delighted to
actually be receiving quite a few messages from you guys that have been following this journey,
the plan, and have done your own half marathons. We've had some pretty impressive times coming
in even one of the chaps in our team has done a sub-90-minute half marathon which is really cool.
Dan: #Jealous. Mark: [laughs]
Dan: It's been a bit bittersweet reading all of the people that have done those half marathons
and fantastic that you followed the program because most people writing to me
have said how great they felt and how they beat the time they were hoping to do in the first
place. I'm there thinking, "Well, I haven't done it yet." I really wanted to beat my time as well.
I will get there at some point. Yes, fantastic effort by everybody that followed the program.
Mark: Thanks ever so much for doing that. Also, just, we want to update you to let you know
the journey isn't over whilst we've obviously put it online, it's on pause for a period of
time to allow you to recover. We will be coming back with hopefully a final video
in the near future with your half marathons. Dan: Stay tuned 2024, we're there.
Mark: Well, thanks ever so much to everyone for following along. I hope you enjoyed today's video.
Give it a thumbs up, give it a Like, and don't forget to give us a follow over on social media
and subscribe just down below. [00:07:20] [END OF AUDIO]