Wednesday, May 24, 2006

SCREW THAT

Last night's run felt terrible – right from the start. We were supposed to do mile repeats at 15-30 seconds per mile faster than MP. My first was in 6:48. It's not terrible, but then I see Joyce – a gal I have be next to all winter long - running a minute faster than that. That’s where I should be. More importantly, I'm just not enjoying it and I'm not comfortable. Every stride is a struggle.

Let’s see, Grandma's would be at least 180 minutes of running at 90 strides a minute. That's over 16 thousand strides - half of which would hurt.

Screw that. I’m pulling the plug. I’ve been battling this leg-thing for 5 weeks and it’s not getting any better. “Hanging on” for another 3 weeks, only to run what would surely be a painful marathon, doesn’t make any sense to me.

After making that decision, here’s the first email I saw this morning;

"I've come to the conclusion that it matters little what the diagnosis is. Whether it's plantar fasciitis, chondromalacia, stress fractures, runner's knee, runner's toe, tendonitis or iliotibal band syndrome, the endless Latin phrases are, effectively, immaterial. But the cure is the same: stop running. A layoff of four to six weeks has remarkable curative powers. Eight weeks off will make you feel like a kid again."


Eric sent that to me from a recent article he read. A few weeks ago he pulled the plug on Grandma’s too, due to sore knees. Later this morning, Jim sent me this quote from the same article;

"Some runners turn to a health care provider the instant they feel that something is not quite right, but they are the exception. Most runners soldier on longer than they should, hoping against all logic that things will get better.

Sooner or later, though, even the most dedicated denier has to admit the truth and head for the dreaded doctor's appointment. We don't fear the needles or the cold, sterile instruments. We fear those fatal words: stop running."


So that’s where I’m at – taking time off without any pre-determined startup date set. Plus I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor for Friday. I’ll see what he has to say and then hopefully I’ll be pointed in the right direction.

Quote of the day:
“Fuck this shit.” – me, last night

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that. You will live to fight another day, and that is the most important thing.

I read that article and while it was pretty perceptive about the psychology of injuries once you have them, I thought it was also a little too conservative about how to avoid them. The old "never raise your mileage more than 10% a week" canard appeared. It would be more helpful if they had an article about how to listen to your body, what kinds of fatigue signal an easy run today, and what kinds signal real problems.

Beanie said...

so sorry Chad. looks like good sense is prevailing though, and you'll come out of this all the better for it. good luck at the doc's.

Trisaratops said...

That blows goats. I am so sorry to hear that, as I know how hard you've been training. But it takes a lot of guts to do what's best for you in the LONG RUN--which is rest up, don't race, and come back strong, as opposed to have a painful race that might leave you hurt for weeks.

Easy for me to say. Ugh. Hang in there--your quote of the day cracked me up. ;)

brent said...

i particularly like the quote of the day. are you going to be cross training or totally off? i partly ask because i'm wondering if that will slow my recovery (not that we have the same injury).

Chad said...

Thanks everyone.

Evan, I haven't read the article yet, but will try to pick it up on Friday.

Yvonne, I'm just going to pretend that I'm pregnant and on bed rest.

Susan, cheers!

Sara, I have a feeling everyone that reads my blog has been waiting for this post. It's advice I would have given anyone else 3-4 weeks ago.

Brent, I asked Eric the exact same question this morning. He's been roller blading, partially to keep from going insane and partically to keep from gaining 20 pounds.

I'm going to borrow some roller blades and see how that affects my leg. Plus I'll bike some and maybe hit the pool. I just played some x-box, so my thumbs are kind of tired. Does that count?