Bone Up
Since suffering a deep bruise on my lower left leg at the Denver Triathlon this last June, I have had nagging pain in the same area as my previous stress fracture. It's hard to write those words, "STRESS FRACTURE." Worse than DNF those words were hard to mutter even amongst my family.
I went to my running physical therapist right before the holidays who'd treated the leg and many other "left side of my body" injuries before. Perhaps in denial, I used words like tendon and muscle to describe the pain. As Heather prodded the area and I acknowledged the source of the pain, she said, "that's your bone." I had already had my ortho look at the leg back in June and he didn't think it was a fracture, but only an MRI could tell for sure. After consulting options with my PT, I wanted to eliminate the worst and scheduled an MRI the Friday after Christmas. Merry F'ing Christmas Tiny Tim.
Doing the calendar math, I was supposed to have already begun training for this April's Boston Marathon the end of December. Erring on the side of caution, I took two weeks off to rest the leg awaiting the MRI and results. I also figured that I still might be able to train for Boston even if I had to take 4-6 weeks off without running. Crap...hard to write those words too. "Without running."
Two weeks and three days after my last run, the good Dr. called me early this morning with good news. No stress fracture and once again, I have been cleared to run. I've wondered over the last six months if this is "all in my head," psychosomatic, and I'm some kind of hypochodriac. I didn't take time off entirely the last two weeks as I continued to swim and focus on core strength building. My leg did start to feel better yet I could feel slight "pangs" as I'd push off the wall at the pool. The diagnosis from my ortho was merely "shin splints." I felt like I'd gone into my normal Dr. with signs of chest pains fearing for the worst and he gave me an antacid tablet and told me to quit being such a wimp.
Regardless, I didn't want to embark on 500 miles of training on a broken leg so the story ends well, or should I say it's starting that way. I rewarded myself with the good news by going out for a mere four mile run. Nothing special, but I was happy that a slightly sub eight minute mile pace seemed effortless hovering in my Zone 1-2 heart rate (below 142.)
Four down, a mere 496 to go. Boston here I come. SeekingBostonMarathon has been cleared for take-off.
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| My first infraction which I ran Chicago on in '08 |
I went to my running physical therapist right before the holidays who'd treated the leg and many other "left side of my body" injuries before. Perhaps in denial, I used words like tendon and muscle to describe the pain. As Heather prodded the area and I acknowledged the source of the pain, she said, "that's your bone." I had already had my ortho look at the leg back in June and he didn't think it was a fracture, but only an MRI could tell for sure. After consulting options with my PT, I wanted to eliminate the worst and scheduled an MRI the Friday after Christmas. Merry F'ing Christmas Tiny Tim.
Doing the calendar math, I was supposed to have already begun training for this April's Boston Marathon the end of December. Erring on the side of caution, I took two weeks off to rest the leg awaiting the MRI and results. I also figured that I still might be able to train for Boston even if I had to take 4-6 weeks off without running. Crap...hard to write those words too. "Without running."
 |
| Denver TRI battle bruise |
Two weeks and three days after my last run, the good Dr. called me early this morning with good news. No stress fracture and once again, I have been cleared to run. I've wondered over the last six months if this is "all in my head," psychosomatic, and I'm some kind of hypochodriac. I didn't take time off entirely the last two weeks as I continued to swim and focus on core strength building. My leg did start to feel better yet I could feel slight "pangs" as I'd push off the wall at the pool. The diagnosis from my ortho was merely "shin splints." I felt like I'd gone into my normal Dr. with signs of chest pains fearing for the worst and he gave me an antacid tablet and told me to quit being such a wimp.
Regardless, I didn't want to embark on 500 miles of training on a broken leg so the story ends well, or should I say it's starting that way. I rewarded myself with the good news by going out for a mere four mile run. Nothing special, but I was happy that a slightly sub eight minute mile pace seemed effortless hovering in my Zone 1-2 heart rate (below 142.)
 |
| Worst self-portrait ever, but most rewarding pic Day 1 of Boston Marathon Training. |
Four down, a mere 496 to go. Boston here I come. SeekingBostonMarathon has been cleared for take-off.
Congrats on being cleared for takeoff! I get to start running again on Tuesday and it will be 3 weeks for me... yikes. Scared about how that will feel...
ReplyDeleteSince it's gotten brutally cold out here in the mitten my first mile or so my stress fracture site starts to ache and I freak. I think once you've had a fracture once you are doomed to fear it happening again. Besides, it's better to be safe then sorry, right?
ReplyDelete