So it's been six and a half weeks since my foot screamed at me after my last HM and I haven't run since😢. I've wallowed and wailed 😭and eaten and drunk far too much. This Monday I started turning things around a bit! I'm trying to be positive: my June medal for the 2019 jigsaw just arrived with a 200k ribbon which I would never achieve running alone, I've rediscovered my bike and will definitely use it for cross training once I can run again, I've got a cancellation slot on Sunday for my MRI so that won't delay any recovery, this morning both my feet were the same size when I got up, I've discovered a seated abs workout which I can easily do every day before work (aha, so pre-work cross strength training is the way to go in future - so often I cop out because by the time I get round to it everyone is home and I feel daft), this week I'm eating better (think bone growth nutrition), the alcohol has stayed behind closed doors and I'm back on the scales with myfitnesspal letting me know just how much good stuff I can eat after a long ride.
Today was supposed to be W1D1 of my HM training which is sad; although I haven't cancelled either booked race yet, I've almost come to terms with having to.
But there's a sting in the tail? Last night the inevitable question was raised by my OH - 'how will you know what caused it .... maybe you can't run marathons'.
I've been waiting for this ... I simply snapped 'I don't run marathons' ... but it will come up again. I'm definitely not ready for those sort of questions and insinuations - only 'when can I start running?' and 'how slowly do I need to build up?' 😃
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linda9389
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Well done for finding a positive way forward Linda, sounds like a good plan! I know what you mean about the forbidden question - I catch myself wondering sometimes if I will ever be able to run further than 10k again without running into trouble (of the bottom kind!) but quickly banish the thought!
Good luck with your scan, hope you are able to start running again soon x
All the signs are positive for you right now though aren't they? Hopefully all your exercises will have strengthened everything the piriformis relies on to stay protected 🙂
My foot did similar to me when I trained for my first HM a couple of years back. I didn't get medical advice, just kept off of it for a few weeks, iced, etc.
I have never found out why, but I put it down to overuse injury and have made sure I build up more carefully since. To date, I have never suffered again.
You will be great, and a better runner for your experience.
That sounds very positive! I don't think I built up too quickly, although maybe it was overuse insofar as I just did too much ? Three halfs i about 8 weeks I think, plus an 8k trail race. I could certainly live with scaling it down to one half per season if that would be enough to stop it .... I've been able to get rid of muscle/ tendon pain, but this seems much more likely to be a stress fracture (or hopefully just a stress reaction) which I have no previous experience of. Fingers crossed it will never recur.
Sorry you are still on the i/c Linda but it sounds as though things are going in the right direction. Fingers crossed for your MRI at the weekend. 🤞You're right, we do change our outlook at times like this and I think we have to - that route back can be hard (I know this from experience!😩) and I guess it's natural to just hanker after being back out there...and then we get back out there and of course we re-adjust those goals again! The important thing is to keep the faith, take any medical or physio advice on board and listen to your body. You have plenty of miles in those legs now and I suspect that once you have healed you will be back building up the miles again. Take care.🙂x
Thank you. I do hope so! It's so reassuring knowing other people who've made it through and are back out there enjoying running again. This will be by far my longest break since I started just over two years ago. I can't quite believe it's been as long as it has since my last run, so hopefully the next 6 weeks will go quickly and I'll be starting to rebuild again by then 🙂
I am sure you will Linda. I can seriously remember thinking I would not get back to running when Sciatica resulted in nerve damage and 'foot drop' in my left leg! It took ages to fully resolve and my goodness my first few runs back were hard because my leg seemed to have 'forgotten' how to run! I was incredibly stubborn and kept plodding away and now my pace is almost back to where it was beforehand. I do seem more prone to IT band niggles now (and runners knee) but other than that you wouldn't really know! 😀👍
I think I've got plenty of determination so I will do my best. It won't be easy quieting the naysayers at home though. Quote from daughter 'so was that race REALLY worth it?' 🤣🤣🤣 To be fair to OH, he's having to do quite a bit extra while I'm booted so it's rather hard to justify a leisure activity that may cause the same problem again. Anyway, that's running before I can walk (quite literally) 🤣
It must be so so frustrating but you are sounding really positive and everything seems to be going in the right direction which is fab. I think keeping your core strength up and possibly improving it will set you up perfectly for getting back to it.
I’m sure your HM training will be fine. You are not a beginner so you must have a few weeks to play with??
Good luck with the MRI. I really hope it is nothing serious and you are back to running soon. You are an excellent example of how to deal with a blow like this. Thank you.
Thanks. I have been a pretty bad example for the last five or six weeks !!! There is no way I could run on it yet, and the pain was bad enough that I'm not going to try anything daft (well, not yet at least - another 4 weeks and it might be a different story 🤣)
We've discussed this elsewhere (Strava I think), so you know I was in the same boat. I can totally relate to the food issue - I put on half a stone this spring because of hardly running but still eating as if i was. My recovery from my (cleaning the house!) related knee injury was despairingly slow. My GP said absolutely no to the Oxford Town and Gown in May, which broke my heart as I'd been looking forward to it for a year. Also I decided myself to defer the Blenheim half in September because it's very hilly and might strain the knee again, and am concentrating on the Oxford half in October. On the advice of my GP, who is a runner so understands, I built up with very short runs interspersed with walking. My running fitness had melted away faster than ice cream in a heat wave, so I found running for longer than a few minutes at a time impossible anyway. The 15k charity run I did was in April, and that was what made the knee a million times worse, and it's now nearly July and this week is the first one where I've run pretty much every day and have done longer than 2-3k at a time (I did 7.5k three days ago) - so you can see the slowness of the buildup. but i feel strong again and the knee is holding up and I start half marathon training next Tuesday. I hope this gives some indication of recovery from injury, though of course it's individual and depends on the injury.
As for the husband, don't be despondent. He's probably forgotten he ever said it. Men feel obliged to find a solution, whereas women tend to offer support and to talk:, in this instance he cant fix you, so the logical thing is you cant (by which read shouldn't) run that far. He's probably worried about you and finding the easiest solution, which is don't do the half marathon.
I've got fingers and toes crossed for you and hope your MRI is ok. My GP suggested I get one, but I really haven't had the time, what with people dying and getting dementia and having chemo - and i know the knee will be a mangled mess inside as it was split to the bone when I fractured my femur over 50 years ago, and I know it gets aggravated from time to time and always settles - running has been good for it.
Providing your MRI doesn't say otherwise, you will get there. It isn't too late to train (at least i hope not, or I'm scuppered!). I'm thinking of you and rooting for you xxx
Ahh Flick, what a lovely reply, thank you - so full of hope. Heartbroken is a good word, not wishing to downplay bigger tragedies in any way, it does describe how I have felt over the last couple of weeks too. You are such a lovely, determined, positive person - you deserve every success in your HM training now. I look forward to trying to follow - albeit possibly 2 or 3 months behind you.
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- Good luck on Sunday
Using Strava to find new routes
Silly hilly question!
