Tuesday, August 12, 2014

We interrupt this blog with some breaking news

Yes, breaking news.

See what I did there?

As I mentioned Friday, I was going into the Olympic and Sprint Triathlon National Championships with about two weeks of minor foot pain. I had rested it quite a bit leading up to the race, simply focusing more on my biking to compensate, and was figuring I could handle the 9.3 miles of running between the two races.

After about a mile of running in the Olympic race, the foot pain became bad enough that I couldn't hold a proper stride. At mile 2, I contemplated a DNF, but since walking hurt more than running and I'd just have to walk back to transition, I kept running (and finished with a total and run split PR, go figure). I spent most of Saturday afternoon icing it and downing Advil, somehow survived the run for the Sprint as well, and then drove 12 hours home and went to a podiatrist's office first thing Monday morning because I was in so much pain that I figured I must have a complete break.

X-rays ruled that out, and after a lot of intense imaging, they found what might be a small beginning of a stress reaction/fracture. 10 days with this fancy shoe and no running and I get another evaluation.

While many may say I was stupid to race this weekend, I did it knowing that my Monday morning might look just like this. It was a national championship in my childhood hometown, and that's an opportunity that one doesn't get often.


14 comments:

  1. Glad that it's not a complete break and enjoy your sexy footwear! (Also, a PR - that is crazy!)

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    1. It kind of makes me wonder what I could have done with two functional feet. Alas.

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  2. Sorry to hear about this. I also had a tibial stress fracture a few years ago and had to take some time off. Hopefully your break -- yuk yuk yuk -- goes smoother than mine and you are back to it soon.

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    1. Oh tibial is way worse than what I have - sorry you had to deal with that.

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  3. If it is a break...it will heal. My college coach asked me at one race: would a 2 month injury be worth the pain? If it is/was...go for the race and take 2 months off. Enjoy the boot and use the boot emoji,

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    1. Yup, that was exactly my thinking. If this race ended my season, that was OK.

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  4. I think we always have to weigh up the element of risk in everything. Usually for me at least, the potential consequences are outweighed by the hope of having a good race and the anger at myself if I DNF or DNS. I'm so sorry this has happened though - I do hope that the boot is magic and the foot is fixed by your evaluation time.

    Absolutely amazing to run such a cracking race with excruciating foot pain though!

    xxx

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    1. I hope it's fixed, too! I'm glad you understand racing while injured - most say it is absolutely stupid, but at times, it can be worth it.

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  5. ... but you can still bike, right? #wattswattswatts

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    1. I can! As long as I'm using hard-soled shoes...like...bike shoes.

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  6. Hey sometimes you just gotta go for it. You killed it too! Hope that you get good news at your reeval!

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  7. It's always easy to Monday morning quarterback ... at about mile 60ish in my 100 miler my left arch was in serious pain. I totally thought it could be a stress fracture and with every step, I half expected to hear and feel a snap. But I hadn't had any pain before then, and wasn't willing to quit on the chance I was right. It abated somewhat in the next 10 miles and a little sports acupuncture fixed it up the following week, no further problems. Sometimes you just don't know.

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    1. Yep, for all I knew, it was just some inflammation. Wasn't about to skip a very important (to me) race just for that, and was willing to deal with the potential consequences.

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