Wednesday, February 20, 2013

As the Injury Fades Away...

It's been over two weeks since I last ran. Although it really feels like it's been over two months, since I keep missing all of my Boston Marathon workouts. I have been trying to distract myself from focusing every second on my right ankle, testing it every few seconds to see if it has improved. This has made the waiting worse.

The electric tingling and pains in my ankle have slowly been fading. I am thinking this improvement correlates to the loss of strength in my legs. After the tension in my muscles dissipates from under-use, my ankle is not under as much strain and feels better.

Nowadays, I mostly notice pains in other areas of my legs, such as the bottom of my foot, my shins, and my other ankle. I wonder if my high mileage was "masking" these other injuries which are now revealing themselves? Anyway, it is probably best for all of my joints and tendons that I am taking this time off. That way, 99% of me will be near 100% when I start running again.

I've been doing ankle exercises and swimming laps at the public swimming pool. Swimming is not like running in that you have to follow a tight schedule for lap swimming that the Chicago Park District decides upon four times a year. You just can't say, "I feel like I'll go for a swim", because the lap swim only happens about three hours a day on weekdays and two hours on the weekend. If you happen to be busy during those hours, than you are out of luck! However, a runner can decide to run at any moment in the day and just run. That's one of the reasons that running is the perfect workout.

I am resigned to not making a definite decision on Boston for a couple of weeks. I am just focusing on recovery right now. I just read a Runner's World article on training for a marathon in four weeks. I have a little more time than that, so there is still hope!

I hope to stop by the Chicago Running Bloggers Beer Run this weekend as it is only five blocks from my house.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/events/141602489329464/

I am toying with the idea of testing out the ankle on the three mile run. Otherwise it will be just beer. We shall see...

11 comments:

  1. LOL! Your logic about why running is the perfect workout cracks me up! I bet some hardcore swimmers could come up with reasons why swimming is ;) I would tend to agree with you though!

    I do hope your ankle feels better soon and that I get to meet you on Sat (I'll be at the run part).

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    1. Yeah, I guess I better watch my back at the pool, as the swimmers may disagree with my logic. :-) Hopefully, I will get to meet you on Saturday!

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  2. train for a marathon in 4 weeks?! Holy crap. haha

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    1. Yeah. I guess the catch is that you are in good shape and can comfortably run a certain number of miles before you start the 4 week plan.

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  3. hi pete.
    would be a shame not to go to Boston for your injury. I ran last year injured and it was a nightmare. (4 hours).
    This year I'm much better but I have made ​​some progress. and although I do not go personal best, if will try to do well.
    you see you have not lost the base, and in four weeks you can improve. Greetings and I hope you feel better and can run Boston 2013.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words. I hope to be back training soon and will decide in a couple of weeks if Boston is in my future!

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  4. Reading “Boston Marathon” still brings some sad feelings, but I'm glad that you're safe. Anyway, I hope you're fully recovered by now. And to lighten the mood, what happened to the Beer Run? It sounds fun that there should be a brew there instead of isotonics.

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