UPDATE: January 13, 2018 – I can run again!!! After a thorough exam which resulted in no pain, my doctor gave me the green light to get back to running, or should I say jogging. He made it pretty clear to keep the pace slow and the duration short as I eased back. More than fine with me!
So this morning I hopped on the treadmill (oh how I missed you!) for 1 whopping 12-minute mile! For comparisons sake, my normal easy pace is about 8:00/mile – I was taking the doctor’s orders seriously!
And yes, it felt odd at times, and I was constantly worrying about my foot and where it was landing and if I was overdoing it – but it’s completed. Run #1 on the comeback trail is in the books. Hopefully this injury is behind me and I can close this post now!
UPDATE: January 10, 2018 – I’m two days away from my first check-up with the doctor since the initial visit. I’ve been following my rehab exercises to a T, but something feels not quite right still. The pain keeps shifting to various other parts of the foot. I’m assuming this is because so many of those tendons or muscles were dormant for the two week period I had with the walking boot.
As someone who loves to plan, it is difficult not knowing what my workout might look like just 2 days from now! Whatever the case, I know it won’t be the end of the world – this gives me peace about the situation.
DEALING WITH INJURY
Up until December 15th, one concept of the running world had evaded me – injury. In the previous year, I had taken less than ten unplanned days off total. As I look back now, I can see it’s no surprise that my fitness improved so much! But on December 15th, after a visit to the doctor, I learned that I had a stress fracture in my right foot. My first injury!
I had been running up until and including that day. In fact, I ran 11 miles that morning and by the evening, was in a walking boot! I had felt discomfort along the inside of my foot for over a month. It was hard to tell how severe it was, and some days, it felt like it was on the verge of being gone.
After a month, however, I decided that it was time to at least get it checked. If it was something more serious, this was definitely the time of year to do something about it. Sure enough, after finding an excruciatingly painful spot and doing some other tests – navicular stress fracture was the diagnosis.
WHAT NOW?
Prognosis – 2 weeks in a walking boot, 2 more weeks of no running. I was about to find out what it was like to navigate through and come back from a serious injury. To be honest, I wasn’t too upset at first. It was great to finally have some answers, and like I mentioned, this was as good of time as any to deal with an injury.
On the positive side, I was still allowed to bike but nothing else. So much for that new treadmill I just got for this winter! My bike workouts were mostly tame. Usually around an hour and I tried like crazy to keep my heart rate close to my aerobic zone 2. At first, this seemed impossible, but my body quickly became more and more comfortable with maintaining a tougher intensity.
LOOKING BACK
If you know me, I am always asking why. It was natural then to ask myself why this injury occurred. I scoured my training log immediately looking for an answer.
Stress fracture injuries in runners generally occur due to overuse. Either too many miles or too much intensity too soon. I was in the midst of a 65 mile week when I discovered the injury. The previous was 59 miles, which followed a 55 mile week. All very reasonable mile progressions that I followed earlier this year when I peaked at 75.
Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of my mileage was easy paced running, unlike my peak mileage weeks that were filled with tempo runs and long intervals. Doesn’t seem like overuse was the issue!
It also couldn’t be the surface. Due to the bad weather, many of my runs were now on a soft and cushy treadmill. Hmmm…what else could it be?! I’m putting off my search at least for now, since I’ve exhausted the two major culprits. I’ve now turned my attention towards the future!
ONWARD AND UPWARD
Being injured has not dampened my fire one bit for my goals. But it HAS changed my way of thinking. I’m usually a very meticulous planner. I LOVE adjusting workouts and planning training weeks even if it’s months into the future! Literally, one of my favorite things to do is plan a training cycle! I’m actually reading even more running material now as I’m researching content for new articles to write. One thing is certain, I will be a smarter runner when I get back out there!
But if this (hopefully) brief time off has taught me anything, it’s to value the runs that we DO have, especially the pain free ones. I pray that I get back to that feeling again soon! Stay tuned for updates!
