I'll get right to it: I'm pretty pissed.
This was my view as I was grading projects on the couch yesterday afternoon:
Yep, I'm back in the boot. Damn it.
The boot came off 10 days ago on Friday.
As I posted last weekend, the Doc didn't initially rule out a 10K this upcoming weekend, but then we called it off. A short duathlon the week after that was still a "go." I met with my physical therapist (PT) right away, and she gave me a plan: walk for 30 minutes, take 2 days off, then try running every-other day starting with walking 4 minutes, running 1, for 25 minutes. That's a whopping 5 minutes of total running.
So I tried doing that running "workout" on Thursday. The first 1-minute run was OK. The second 1-minute run started to make my leg hurt where it hurt a month ago. Damn it. Minute 3, 4, and 5 were just OK. And then my leg ached the next day. (Which it wasn't supposed to do - I was SUPPOSED to only do things without pain.) I wasn't sure it it hurt from the running or from a good acupuncture appointment Thursday night post-run at
Magna (Robert's approach causes a bit of an ache like you might get after a deep massage, and he had a needle right on the sorest spot on my leg).
So I attempted run #2 on Saturday. It hurt in my first minute of running. I walked 4 minutes and tried 1 more minute of running, and it still hurt. I was done. I'm back in the boot, and it feels like it did a month ago when I first went into the boot. I THOUGHT about trying to "run through it" for the next 2 weeks just to be able to race the Cinco Du Mayo Duathlon, but that'd be super, super stupid.
What makes me so upset is that I've been doing everything right! I wore the boot all the time except for PT exercises. I'm RELIGIOUSLY doing my PT exercises and stretches. The Doc said I could still bike, but I told her I'd be safe and start with 10 days on the trainer first (as to avoid too much clipping in and out which could be hard on my leg), and I did all I could to stay seated (as to avoid too much stress on my leg). And even though I haven't been running, my training has been GOOD. Look at these 2 weeks that I now just have to throw away:
The week of the 4th was every-other day of aqua jogging and trainer rides (both are purple) - the equivalent of nearly 60 miles on the bike and 25+ miles of running. And the week of the 11th was nearly 100 miles on the bike and another 24+ "miles" in the pool of running. Those were GREAT mid-April numbers for me! Last April, I was training better than I had in the past, and I've surpassed those numbers this year. Here's looking at my training numbers for 2 weeks that were 2 and 3 weeks before the Cinco Du Mayo Duathlon in April (which I did in 2012, 13, and 15):
- Two weeks of April 2012: 0 miles biked, 57 miles ran.
- Two weeks of April 2013: 36 miles biked, 33 miles ran.
- Two weeks of April 2014: injured (ankle sprain).
- Two weeks of April 2015: 120 miles biked, 31 miles ran.
- Two weeks of April 2016:
152 miles biked, 50+ miles "ran."(And it's not that ONLY the last few weeks have looked better; my training has been better all winter long.)
I did well at that race last year, and I was ready to kill it this year. AND I'D BE TRYING OUT MY NEW BIKE AT A RACE FOR THE FIRST TIME! But I can just flush that training down the crapper now.
I'm not being "dramatic" with the title of this post: my "season" this year was going to be a few May duathlons. Remember, I haven't been swimming since last August (my last triathlon) because
of my elbow issue, so I was going to take the year off from triathlons this year. Duathlon season in MN is May. Then it's tri season.
I saw this last week and I felt like it was fitting.
(This is a weird goal.) I just need to totally stop and let my body heal up. No use keeping my endurance up for a season that's not going to happen. In the off chance that aqua jogging and/or biking was hurting my leg, I'll cut it all out so my body can heal.
- Don't get fat. I'm not joking. I'll need to make a conscious effort to watch what I eat a bit more now that I'm not logging those miles. (In those 2 weeks above, I burned about 13,000 calories biking or aqua jogging. That averages about 1,000 extra calories/day. I need to adjust my intake now that I'm not burning those calories.)
- Talk with my PT and/or doc to get healed up and out of this boot ASAP. I have a PT appointment scheduled for Wednesday, so maybe I'll see what she says. I'm not TOTALLY convinced it's a "stress reaction" like the doc first said because would that hurt so much? But what do I know? It's a sharp-ish pain slightly to the inside of my leg along my tibia between my knee and ankle. Thoughts anyone?
I've often, often said
"I'm good at being injured" because I know I've been doing something wrong and need to take some time to recover. It hasn't bothered me that much over the years. But now I'm sick of it. I'm over it. I was so smart all winter: I took 5 weeks off after the TC 10 Mile and then started building a good base of easy miles all winter. I just want to be a "normal" runner again. I'm currently on top of the Grand Prix standings, and now that's over. My running team is currently on top of the local USATF series, and I hope they can keep that up without me. And all of this also begs the question: how much longer should I be running? How many more years of running do I have left before it's just not worth it? I'm not saying it's now, but I'm starting to prepare myself in case it's soon.
I the meantime, I have to remember that life is good. Three weeks ago, my Mom was "healthy;" two weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer; one week ago, she had it successfully removed; and
this past Friday, the boys and I visited her for a bit. Bad things come and go, and in the grand scheme of things, my leg pain is nothing. I posted this on Instagram when I was feeling pretty bummed about life after my last unsuccessful run on Saturday:
... but I was just trying to stretch...
Those fellas. They'll make things better for me.
(Or they'll make me want to pull all of my hair out. One or the other.)
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