My last post was the 9k trail race, and at the beginning of that I noticed my right shin was hurting a little, but it wasn't bad - not nearly bad enough to keep me from running. My leg was pretty sore the next day, but I didn't really think it was anything serious so I went ahead and stuck to my training plan which had me run 10 miles that Monday - 2 days after the race. Well, my shin hurt for that whole run and it was pretty painful by the end. I still wasn't too worried about it. I iced it a lot, wore compression sock and rolled it out. I also swam a lot that week which made it feel a lot better!
oh the pain!!
But it was still hurting as the weekend approached so I decided to postpone the 20 mile run I had planned for Saturday. We were leaving that day for North Carolina anyway, and I figured it would be nicer not to be sore walking around the airport and on the plane.
I brought my ice pack and compression socks with me and used them every night for the first half of the trip, and my leg was just continually sore, even just to walk around on it, so I decided not to run at all on the trip. I tried to take it really easy and didn't walk too much in the first few days, and even turned down climbing to the top of the light house we visited. If you know me, you know how much of a let down that was.
But the beach we went to was beautiful and I really enjoyed just walking on the beach and playing in the ocean. I let myself be content with just sitting there ejoying the view:
On our last morning there, I went down to the beach and walked 3 miles. I really just didn't want to leave, it was so nice out there! On my way back, the wind was kind of pushing me and the sand felt so soft and welcoming so I did run a little tiny bit on the beach. And that felt good. My shin felt a little achy that night after all the traveling home. The next morning we were home and it felt so nice and cool outside! My led felt good so I put my new running shoes on and decided to give it a try. I seriously walked to the end of the block, then ran across the street and said, "nope," because it hurt immediately when I started running so I just went home and called my sports medicine doctor. I couldn't get in to see him for 2 weeks, though...
I rode my bike with Pete to work a couple times, did some Nike Training Club workouts, and went on a fun hike for my birthday that Saturday.
The next Monday, which was Labor Day, my leg was feeling really good so I ran, with George in the stroller and Elle on her bike, one mile to the park where I did Nike Training Club and hung out while they played, then ran home, and my leg didn't hurt! YAY! It was a little achy that night, but felt better on Tuesday which was the first day of school for my kids!
Obligatory first day of school picture at our awesome new school:
Tuesday I swam which, as always, is awesome.
George started preschool on Wednesday, and my leg was feeling good so I decided to try to run 4 or 5 miles. Maybe that was too ambitious, I don't know. I started out and I just wanted to cry it felt so good to be running again! It was a wonderful first mile, but by the time I hit the second mile my leg was feeling quite weird. It didn't really hurt, but it was more like a lot of pressure. It felt like my leg bone was being squeezed. Weird, right? So I decided to just take the shorter way home and walk it. I was pretty disappointed and glad I had my doctor appointment scheduled for Friday.
I swam again on Thursday (and I think I did 1000 yards in 17:22 which was amazing, unless I counted wrong...), and rode my bike Friday. My leg was feeling good when I went in for my doctor appointment, and I related all of the above information to my very wise and kind doctor and got some x-rays.
It turns out that I have a stress fracture.
Or had.
It is almost better and my doctor is very optimistic that I will be able to do the St. George Marathon in a month! Luckily I had gotten my mileage up pretty high before I had to stop running. But he only wanted me to run 6 easy miles this Saturday to see how that felt, and not do the half marathon I'd been planning all summer with my friends. I kind of suspected I wouldn't be able to do it, but I had been more hopeful this week so I was still bummed. The crazy thing is that only 3, out of the 9 of us who originally set out to do this half marathon, made it to the start line. Our poor running group was just racked with stress fractures and other injuries and illnesses. Such a bummer. I'm so proud of the 3 who made it, though!
The good news is that I ran the prescribed 6 miles yesterday and it was really good! My leg felt a little achy for most of the run, but the doctor said that was ok, as long as it didn't get worse. It was still achy that night, but I iced it and today it feels just great. I am even able to hop up and down on it and it doesn't hurt so that's a really good sign! I will relay this info to my doctor tomorrow and get further instructions for the next few weeks to get to the marathon.
I'm excited that it seems like it's going to work out! He explained to me that every time you run, your bones get broken down a little, and so does your muscle, but it takes longer for your bones to rebuild themselves so that's why it's dangerous to do a long hard run 2 days after a long hard run. This is what we think happened to me... I did 18 miles which weakened my bone, then the next week I did a 9+ mile race which weakened it even more, followed by a hard 10 mile run 2 days later before it had time to heal. This constant not letting your bones heal business is what causes stress fractures. At least this kind. Also, the doctor told me that there's not anything wrong with me (other than this injury of course), that my bones look really good and to not write running off because of this. Whew!
So, maybe I won't change the name of my blog after all. :)
(Stay tuned for more beach pictures!!)
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