Monday, June 29, 2009

Biting the Bullet

Despite hopes that self-diagnosis and self-rehab (i.e., icing and sucking-it-up) would result in pain-free runs in the near future, I am going to see an orthopedic surgeon on Thursday. I was able to ignore the fact that my foot/ankle issue was still very present for the past few weeks since I was only running 2.5 miles every other day. Even then, though, the outside of my lower leg was always tight and the outside of my foot, while not incredibly sore, didn't feel right.

Last week I made the daring move up and ran 3.2 miles. The loop was very hilly and hard as hell, but it was my only option at the time. Afterwards, my foot was unbelievably sore and still hurts today. Needless to say, I haven't run since that run (last Wednesday).

I could continue to follow my plan of stopping for a week (or more) and then starting up again but something tells me I'm going to just keep ending up back here. I've been avoiding a doctor out of fear of being told not to run for weeks but clearly, I'm not progressing doing things the way I'm doing now.

I also have a feeling that the issue may be biomechanical given that it takes barely any running to knock me down. It may just be that running for 12 years and weight gain have left me running funny and in need of orthotics. Or a chiropractor. It'll take a real doctor to make that call though.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Haulted in Houston

As mentioned in my last post (which was far too long ago) I was slotted to spend several weeks in Houston, TX for air quality research. The overall experience was not as bad as expected and, dare I say, even fun (at times). As anticipated, however, the days were long and the breaks none existent; I literally worked 7 days a week 10-12 hours a day. While I liked the change in the type of work (more hands-on lab stuff rather than the paper-writing and data-analyzing I had been doing for the months pre-Houston), it was still exhausting to do it for that long. Needless to see, I'm happy to be back in the cool Northeast on a regular, less rigorous schedule.

Unfortunately and as predicted, my running suffered, though not for the reasons I originally thought. Even though the work days were long, for the first week and a half or so I was there, I was able to get my runs in. The runs I did do were on the treadmill, partially because of the heat and partially because I didn't want to run around the city alone (clearly, I am from New Hampshire), but they were runs all the same. I was starting to feel pretty good at 3 miles and was getting ready to jump up to the 4-5 range. Of course, right when I'm getting psyched about progress, my effing right foot/ankle starts acting up again. I take a couple days off and ice it, hoping it calms down. No dice. In the end, I took 3 weeks off.

With where I'm hurting and how I'm hurting, I think what's going on is peroneal tendinitis. This was my thought before, back in February, but then I was told it was just overall inflammation in my foot by a physical therapist. I'm not really sure how to go about fixing the problem except for taking time off, icing and taking anti-inflammatories. That and stretching my calves madly. Supposedly it's caused by tight calves (among other things) and, to be honest, stretching hasn't exactly been a priority in my post-collegiate training. I probably should start warming up again, even if it's walk-jogging for 5 minutes.

I ran for the first time in 3 weeks on Saturday and then again on Monday. Overall it felt good but I did notice a slight discomfort, which suggests that I need to keep taking it easy and keep on the ice/ibuprofen.

So. Frustrating. It's amazing how three years of inconsistent running and rapid weight gain can make you prone to injury. I mean tendonitis off of 3 mile runs 4 days a week at 8:45-9:00/mile when I used to run 30 miles a week at a much higher intensity? Depressing.

I'm working through it though. Hopefully I'll be able to manage the tendonitis and be able to get going again and have a solid summer of training. I really want to get in shape and get to a point where I'm not embarrassed by my body anymore. But I also don't want to try and train through the pain and get to a point where I'm so broken, I'm sidelined for months. I just have to make sure to keep listening to my body despite my impatience.