Tonight was definitely the bottom of my marathon training so far. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and my shin splint (right leg only) was feeling semi recuperated so I decided to hit the high school track and do a nice, slow 4 miles.
From step 1, the pain was bad. I was limp running. Limp running is not good. I just needed to work into it, I thought. But the pain didn't ever go away. By two miles, I decided to incorporate some walking. When I started to run again, though, my leg just killed even more. So I decided to just keep running, no matter how slow I got. At the end of mile 3 I checked my pace and I was doing 11:30 miles. I wanted to cry. The night was cool and clear and beautiful, and I was surrounded by tons of athletic people, and I was just flat out feeling sorry for myself.
I told myself I would finish what I started if I had to walk the rest of it. But I was able to run the whole time, and even got a glimpse of happiness for the first half of my last mile and felt good enough to do a sub 8 minute pace. But I knew speed wasn't going to help me recover so I backed off again.
My leg kills. Ice, ibuprofen, stretching... I'm trying to help this thing but it just hurts so bad. I'm having to come to terms with the fact that my Saturday long run just isn't going to happen. It scares me. I need those long runs. I'm going to have to get on the bike or I'm afraid things will get ugly.
I'm just angry right now. I felt so invincible, like I was immune to injury. That's probably why I'm being humbled. And it sucks. So... hopefully I can figure out how to overcome this.
Oh Tara I feel your pain! You DO feel invincible when you're training and your body gets stronger and you can run faster and farther than ever before. I think it was such a shock to both Taber and I when we got injured. I think it's very common though for first time marathoners. the 2 girls I ran my 20 miler with both got injuries. (foot for one, IT bands and knees for the other) They were both able to run still but it's rough going through that recovery process when you're trying to build up your miles. I think your being smart though to reschedule your long run and focus on getting better. The schedule is a great outline but it's not the end all be all. You don't have to be a slave to it. If you get the chance you should watch that spirit of the marathon movie (it's on netflix) Deena Kastor (elite runner who ends up winning the Chicago marathon that year) gets injured and has to cross train for 3 weeks, no running. She water jogs and bikes like a maniac and still ends up winning the race. when I watched that I realized that you CAN cross train through an injury and still be in great shape to run the marathon.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I highly recommend going to a Dr. that does sports medicine or a physical therapist. It really helps you figure out what you can and can't do to get better faster. when I got ITB syndrome i was really freaking out. a lot of people have to drop out because of that but my Dr. did a very thorough examination and was confident he could get me back in the race. He made me do some sucky things like ice massage, ice baths, horrible deep tissue massage, ART, and stretching 5 times a day. Still, the result was worth it because he got me running again.
Also, final thing I'll say (and I'm sorry this is already a novel) but i did want to mention that at the end of my training i was supposed to be running 30-40 miles a week and i was only doing 15-20 because of my injury. Despite the lower mileage I was still able to finish and my recovery has been great. so yeah, even if you don't run every single mile on the schedule you can still totally do the marathon.
Sending you my love and positive thoughts! You'll get through this and you'll still have an awesome race : )