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September 4, 2004
well, I thought
Well, I thought I'd hold off posting until I had something else to post about besides injury and miserable runs.
Earlier this week I thought I'd turned a corner. I was feeling better and better; on some runs I actually needed to hold back because I didn't want to push too hard too soon. I was even looking forward to track this week, but that workout (measly 8x400) ended up setting me back at least a week. I managed 72+ miles this week , but since Wednesday there's been pain every step, and my stride is all screwed up, and I can hardly get my legs to go and I get tired way too soon.
So it's 5 weeks to Chicago. The trip is paid for; the registration's paid for; I got the time off from work. But the voice of reason says it's just not going to happen. I can't see making a miraculous recovery and somehow gaining all the fitness I've lost by trying to run through this for the past 6 weeks. I've been working for this since January and it's probably not going to happen, just like that.
I'm not the only person who's ever had this happen, and some people have it even worse, I know. But tonight I'm going to have a second drink, maybe a third.
Posted by joe positive at September 4, 2004 7:03 PM
Comments
I've been wondering about you. 72+ miles with pain every step of the way? It sounds like you're killing your little legs... So sorry this is happening to you. I hope you and your coach come up with a viable plan for what to do next. Good luck, Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at September 4, 2004 8:18 PM
Sometimes it can be very, very hard to listen to that voice of reason.
I had a very similar thing happen when I was training for Boston in 2003. I ran a four-minute half-marathon PR while not even trying (it was supposed to be a marathon pace run) and then a few days later, I could barely walk. It was six weeks before the race. At first, I thought maybe I could just take a couple weeks off and still run the race... Luckily my injury was such that I couldn't even make a running motion with my legs, so racing in Boston wasn't even really an option (otherwise I might have tried something stupid).
I ended up taking two months off, and even though I felt terrible when I first started running again, the fitness came back amazingly fast and I was back in PR shape by the fall.
This doesn't change the fact that being injured sucks, especially when you've been training so hard, but this training will help you in the future and there can still be a happy ending.
Posted by: Alison at September 7, 2004 2:22 PM
hey joe - i know exactly how you feel. chicago is out for me (and i had been training for what felt like forever). my only word of caution is stop before the pain progresses into something more serious that could take you out of running for months (easier said than done, i know). maybe take 3 days of rest and see what happens?
i have missed 3 marathons due to injury (boston twice and now chicago). it really sucks - there is no way around that one! but my twin sister always reminds me that the marathon will be there when i am healthy - it will not run anywhere. hang in there :-)
Posted by: bridget at September 11, 2004 11:34 PM