July 14, 2017

Injury Update #3: Don't Call it a Comeback

In case you missed it, I was diagnosed with a 4th metatarsal stress fracture at the very end of October and survived almost 4 weeks in a boot doing zero exercise of any type. I posted my last injury update in JANUARY about PT and all that fun stuff. 

So I have taken a couple months off of blogging because I finished my last semester of classes for grad school (::woop::woop) and had a month off school completely and working for 2 weeks before starting my clinical rotations. Plus there wasn't much to say. 

I got some longer runs in to run the Love Run Half Marathon in Philadelphia after March which I completely in okay time, but feeling crappy. It was too much too soon. I took a week off afterward because of intermittent soreness in my foot the following week (the foot felt fine during the race and the days after).

This spring was my hardest semester of classes and with being busy it was really hard for me to get into a solid running/workout routine again. I feel like I'd skip/miss workouts and then do a bunch of running, etc. and never get a stable base of 15-20 miles. I'd feel some weird soreness in my healed foot (same feeling of the initial injury almost) every couple of weeks that freaked me out and made me take it easy/off running for a few days (or a week in a couple of cases). I even went back to my ortho in April to talk to him and made him do an X-ray just to try to ease my anxiety.  Yes, he thinks I'm crazy. 

So if you are coming back from an injury, it may not be as straightforward as you think. There will probably be some ups and downs along way. 

Now it's July and almost time to start Philadelphia Marathon training which I'm keeping low-key because I've got my eyes on the dream of being healthy for Boston 2018. I still feel not as fast or fit as I was pre-injury, but I've built my mileage up to all 20-24 miles per week in June. I need to do better at my PT exercises, stretching, foam-rolling still (story of my life? most runners' lives?). 

However I feel like I've been really consistent the past month (not working or being in grad school classes/fieldwork, haha) which has been a great reset.  I feel like I'm at a good place where I'm just okay. All my running buddies who I have talked to in the past 6 weeks are like "so you're healed, now?" or "so you're back to normal now?". I'm not feeling that way, but I'm good. I even ran a 6:06 mile on a whim for the Strava #mymile mile PR challenge so I know the speed and fitness is in me-it just needs to be trained and tuned up. I've been doing some fun runs, having good workouts with friends, and re-fueling like a boss (that never stopped!). I'm running and loving life right now.  

Now off to do some resistance band hip and glute exercises...


#5ummit NECS_MA trail race action shot 


4 comments:

  1. Ugh! Those little niggles after an injury suck so bad. Why do they mess with our heads?!?! And I really wish there was more time in the day to do ALL the things we are supposed to be doing. Off to do my PT exercises now. :)

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  2. Just do what you can...the rest will come.

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  3. I broke my 5th metatarsal almost two years ago (from trauma, not a stress fracture.) It took a full year to feel better running, and I felt the whole time that something was wrong. I wasn't hitting the milestones that my doctor kept saying I could hit, and it just didn't feel right. Exactly a year later I broke the 5th metatarsal on my other foot in exactly the same way so I had identical breaks. This time recovery was so easy, and I started running with no pain only 11 weeks after the break. I hit all the milestones on a normal timeline. Now that I have a point of comparison, I've gained a lot of confidence in my knowledge of my body. With my first break I wasn't just being too careful, there very clearly was additional damage that I needed to let heal. I'm so glad I trusted myself and my pain, not what the doctors were saying.

    And, almost 22 months after my initial break, I can't even tell I broke it other than a lack of ankle flexibility from more than 10 weeks in a boot. I wear my shoe inserts religiously to keep from breaking my foot again since twice is enough, thank you, but otherwise it doesn't impact my life at all. What I'm trying to say is give it time, and trust yourself to know your limits. Recovery is so frustrating and definitely not linear.

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  4. I smiled when I ran, " I'm running and loving life right now."

    THAT is the ultimate goal.

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