What to do while injured? That is the Question.

[mrrun]

It turns out, lots of stuff. You can feel sorry for yourself, or even angry at life. You can twiddle your thumbs for hours whilst watching the sunshine outside. There's an option where you can wash all your running gear, dry it, and put it back in the wardrobe. You can torture yourself by joining a running friend in the park and film her sprinting at sunrise, like a maniac (see her on that photo). There she is, practicing interval runs while I sit on the bench, feeling numb.

I sat at a physio's table yesterday listening to his sage words. A ligament between two of the bones in a complex area inside the right ankle got inflamed. A tiny bit but it still takes 6-8 weeks for it to go. I'm in no pain whatsoever, not even discomfort, but with those things it takes one long run to ignite the darn thing again. I was lucky to have spotted it very early and stopped the run immediately.

What next? After two weeks of already resting the foot I need to wait for another week before easing myself back into running through some slow 5Ks. If any bad signal is felt, I must stop. The other stuff is all about exercises, stretching and patience. Got some resistant bends and I'm practicing standing on the toes of that leg for 10 seconds at the time. I look like a stork.

How did it happen? Not through running. A quick error when practising martial arts where a leg kick wasn't correctly followed by the body turn. A leg was left in a bad position for a split second, which was enough to trigger an injury. Oh well. Hopefully I will run 5K next Tuesday. Cannot wait. More thumb twiddling in the meantime.

Stay well & keep running, the rest of you!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Sympathies! Not too long now though. I learned to ride my bike while I was injured ... or more precisely I found a love for riding my bike (othopeadic boot on one foot was no issue ... so long as I didn't need to come to a sudden stop and put the booted foot down - only happened once thankfully). You will so enjoy that 5k on Tuesday!!!

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to linda9389]

Thank you, Linda! I'm also playing with some weights and contemplating a summer wardrobe. All this free time, eh? Funny thing is, I don't feel any problem with that foot anymore. Let's hope the physio hasn't played some prank on me. Some of those fellas have a weird sense of humour.

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon]

When I broke my toe I did "chair cardio" (much harder than it sounds! 🤣) and other exercise routines in Caroline Jordans "hurt foot programme" on YouTube. Saved my sanity.

It's just as well you listened to your body, could easily have been worse!

🤞🏻 the physio knows his stuff!

[misswobble Marathon in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

There’s always a solution 😃. Doing your own treatment is a very positive thing to do 👍

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon]

When I broke my toe I did "chair cardio" (much harder than it sounds! 🤣) and other exercise routines in Caroline Jordans "hurt foot programme" on YouTube. Saved my sanity.

It's just as well you listened to your body, could easily have been worse!

🤞🏻 the physio knows his stuff!

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

You broke a toe? Bugger. I bet 'chair cardio' is harder than it sounds. That doesn't heal quickly either, I'd imagine...

Yeah, the foot signal was not the usual 'fatigue through distance' or 'old shoes' stuff. I just knew. As I stopped, the signal stopped but continuing to run would have done the damage overnight when everything cools down. I don't do 'no pain-no gain' stuff. It's not worth it.

[RunWillie Marathon]

Good to hear an update mrrun

Hope that first 5k on Tuesday goes well 👍🏻

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to RunWillie]

Thank you kindly. It's a run that I will do in literally any weather conditions. The alarm has been set. Sitting here and seeing the sunshine outside doesn't really encourage my broad smile. More like a grin instead.

[nowster Metric Marathon]

Ouch! Sounds a little like the ankle injury I got back at the end of August. I didn't have the good sense then to stop and made it much worse. Mine was the deltoid ligament. Yours is the posterior tibial tendon? My sympathies.

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to nowster]

Thank you! Listening to the body is one important aspect in serious injury prevention. Another is knowing why the injury has taken place. If it heals and a runner carries on as before, the injury will come back. And there are only a few things worse than repetitive injuries.

Thankfully I had two of the bad ones as a beginner so I got extra cautious when it comes to body messages. When the first drop of heavy rain hits my head, I instinctively look around for any snipers. Can't help it.

[nowster Metric Marathon in reply to mrrun]

Grin! Me too!

[Decker Ultramarathon]

Hope this thing heals up well and you are back to runs again soon. I can sympathize with my enforced time off last year with the IT band issues.

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to Decker]

IT band? Stubborn healer, I heard. Did it take long to get back to running? Over here, day after day of sunshine and cool breeze with beautiful spring light. And I'm sitting down like a statue. An angry statue.

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to mrrun]

It would have taken a couple of weeks rest but I overdid the cross training (physio and cycling) to make up for it and wound up stressing it again. 4 weeks of easy physio exercises with rest and I was back to short slow runs. Changed shoes too during the recovery since they felt a bit different in how they pulled on that part of my knee. Yeah it is frustrating especially when the sun is out. You realize how much the runs mean to you. Heal up and come back stronger!

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to Decker]

Most of it is down to patience. The worst part is when the actual pain/discomfort goes away and you think that you should at least go for a short run. But the actual inflammation is still there and if you do go, it's likely that you'll aggravate it and it's then all back to square one. Oh boy...

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to mrrun]

Yep that is the trickiest part to navigate. My physiotherapist made me stay home an additional few days until the pain was totally and completely gone. It was a bit maddening.

[misswobble Marathon]

Oh eck! 🤨. I dunno, what are you like! 🙄. Not even a running injury. That’s like adding insult to injury 😞

Do your exercises diligently 😁 and you’ve only got a week before you get back out to play 🤗.

When I got back to running after the shin splint , it was for 2 minutes at a time 😏. Mind you, you do what it takes don’t you 🙂

Good luck 💪👍😃

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to misswobble]

I've actually got the run pencilled in for Tuesday but if I feel the way I do now, I'll go on Monday. The physio will take another look in a week.

The thing with martial arts is, it takes a split second error and you get hurt. Two years ago I got decked and nearly broke a wrist when I fell. It took 9 months for it to heal fully. Knees and ankles are in constant danger but it is what it is. This morning we had a 4 hour session in the park but due to social distancing we could only bash each other with 6'0 long wooden poles. Knees and ankles were safe this time, ribs got some light tickles but that's alright.

At least I can proudly say that I haven't had a running related bad injury in more than 4 years, so that's pretty good going. 😀

[sofaspud]

Maybe this is a daft question but…How did you know you had an injury when there’s no pain or discomfort? Did I miss something?

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to sofaspud]

I stopped the run right after a half marathon mark when I felt a tightening cramp-like sensation in the foot. The same as I felt over 4 years ago when I didn't stop, aggravated the inflammation and ended up not running for around 12 weeks. When I stopped running the pain and discomfort stopped straight away because the pressure through impact stopped pushing that 'bit' in the foot. Unlike 4 years ago I went to see a physio immediately.

Now, nearly a month later, I've run two easy 5Ks, all seems well but I can still feel that 'thing' inside. Such injuries take time to heal. If I went for a long run and pushed it over several hours, I'd end up in pain, inflammation and probably no running for a while.

So, on the surface there is no pain or discomfort when walking about, but when stretching, massaging and running slowly I can tell that it will take a bit more before I get the all-clear. Next physio assessment follows soon.

😎

[sofaspud]

Thanks for the comprehensive answer! I really, really admire you for cutting back and nipping it in the bud. I’m quite stubborn and will try to run through. It takes so much discipline to hold back. Fingers crossed for your next appointment!

[mrrun Ultramarathon in reply to sofaspud]

Actually, it's very little to do with discipline. It's simply to do with fear of a serious injury. 😉