post-injury half marathon prep.

I was injured for almost a year.  You could probably say over a year if you included the time it took me to really become comfortable with running again.  I missed two half marathons and other shorter distance races. It has been an extremely depressing, long, and difficult process to overcome.  Back in October, I worked up enough courage and felt good enough to sign up for a turkey trot (which I've wanted to race in since we moved here almost four years ago), and then I was sidelined with another injury and couldn't race.  As a runner, I think it's pretty safe to say that being injured is the worst feeling ever.  After the failed turkey trot, I headed to a specialist and was referred to a new physical therapist.  The PT has given me more confidence and worked wonders on my leg.  After some pain-free runs, I felt ready to tackle the half marathon again.

I couldn't find a local or destination race that worked with my schedule, so I went for the inaugural Rock 'N' Roll Raleigh half marathon on April 13.  I think the atmosphere of the race will be great, and I'm really looking forward to running an entire 13 miles through the city that I now call home.

After so much time spent injured, I'm extra anal about doing everything possible I can to not be injured again.  This is what the first couple months of my training looks like:


I don't like to be a stickler with my training because life happens and shit.  Sometimes it's better to see D who has been traveling for a week than get in cross training.  That said, I thrive by following some sort of schedule.  I loosely base my week on this schedule, but amend things as needed.  I switch things around a good bit too.  For instance, if I know my long run will be Sunday instead of Saturday then I will run 3 miles Friday and go to a yoga class on Thursday.

I've come to terms with the fact that the previously injured leg is always going to bother me more than my "healthy" leg will.  After some dull aches and twinges from my bad leg, I'm also incorporating PT exercises consistently into my training on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I have pretty strict guidelines that I follow in hopes of resisting future injury.  In case you missed it, I contributed to The Eighty Twenty and discussed my five tips for being balanced with running and avoiding injury.  In addition to those five things, I'm also maintaining physical therapy sessions every three weeks (since that's all I can afford).  I'm still scared to death of re-injury and missing another half marathon.  I'm going to continue to maintain balance and stay positive.
Are you training for any races? Have you been injured?  How did you recover?

On being injured.

Remember when I told you I was injured?  After almost three weeks of no activity and the pain still lingering, I knew it would ease my mind to go to the doctor.  I found a new practice where both are the doctors are runners and have a specialty in sports medicine.  My suspicions and research were accurate; it was a stress fracture.  While the X-ray didn't show it (even after approximately 3+ weeks with the injury), my doctor didn't think it would be necessary to spend the money on a MRI when the treatment would be the same.  The treatment?

The boot.  And only upper body work outs and swimming.  Cross training.  I hate cross training.  As of now, I'm in it for two weeks, and then I have a check-up from there.

My fears?

After accepting that I was not going to be able to run the RunRaleigh half (that had already been paid for) and achieve that PR I had been hoping for, I'm scared of losing all the endurance and speed I've worked so hard for.  I'm scared of gaining weight back that I've worked so hard to lose.  I'm scared my leg will never be the same.  I'm scared of this happening again.  I'm scared of how long this might take to heal.  I'm scared I may not be able to run that 5k for BFW in May.

I'm scared of a lot.  Being scared adds to stress.  My primary form of stress relief is running.  This has been a really difficult time for me.

[My last long run prior to the injury.  Pushed through calf tightness which was likely a precursor to/sign of the fracture]

How did this happen?

It wasn't the shoes.  I was running an average of three days a week, two short runs and one long run, which I don't consider overtraining.  I was cross training at least one day per week.  I was running exclusively outside (no treadmill).  My only guess what that I was pushing myself too fast and not resting and stretching enough.  My running partner pushed me to be faster (not by telling me to be, but just by being quicker); therefore my long runs were at a quicker pace than I was used to.  My short runs were all quick.  Even running three days a week, I was constantly pushing myself to be quicker.  Since many of my runs were during my lunch break, I didn't stretch properly after.  My routes always involved hills.  I'll never know for sure.

Where do I go from here?

Swimming.  I'm open to any and all resources on aqua jogging.  I did one session last week, prior to seeing my doctor, which involved alternating between kick boarding, backstroke, and aqua jogging.  I didn't feel like it was a work out at all, and I felt a dull ache in the "bad leg" after (possibly due to the increased leg effort with the kick board).  I'm a terrible swimmer, but I don't have a problem trying (if I can get over the judgement of that lifeguard always watching me ;)).  Since I thrive off of training plans, I am going to try to (as strictly as possible) follow this plan from Peter Pfitzinger.  Biking is out for the time being, especially while I'm in the boot.  I'll also be pulling out all those pinned workouts that I have yet to try.  I'm guessing I'm looking at another four weeks before I can comfortably do anything else...

Tell me about injuries you've had!

How did you get through them?  What swimming or core/upper body workouts would you recommend (even Pins!)?