Am I Dealing with a Running Injury Here?
Remember yesterday when I posted about my sub-1:50 goal? Not even five minutes after it posted, I reached down to rub my left calf. It was feeling sore. But the more I rubbed, the more I suspected something wasn’t right. It was more than just sore.
I ran my thumb from my left ankle up my inner calf. Nothing unusual…until I got about halfway up. Ouch! One spot hurt pretty bad. Like real pain. Deep pain. Not soreness…and the worst part, it was just one spot. Pinpointed pain. When you can pinpoint pain, that’s not good. It’s easy to find, too, since it’s right under a little freckle. Ha!
Anyway, I quickly made a physical therapy appointment. If it goes away before my appointment, great! But, if not, at least I’m scheduled to see someone, who happens to be a runner and likes to work with athletes. Yay!
Yes, I will be going to a different PT this time. I heart Pacific Balance, but it is really far from my house. The PT I will see Tuesday at Pinnacle Sports is within walking distance. There’s a trail that runs behind it that goes directly to-from my house – heck, I may bike there. Of course, if I have a stress fracture, I may not even be allowed to bike. Last time, recumbent bike was the only biking I was allowed to do. And I definitely won’t be allowed to be power walking anywhere.
The funny thing is, I’m not stressing about this. If I’m injured, then I’m injured. Maybe I shouldn’t have run my 8-miler on the treadmill. Maybe I shouldn’t have done 5 on the ‘mill two days later. I KNOW that thing messes with my stride. But with my husband gone for almost two weeks, I didn’t think I had much of a choice. Oh well.
Remember when I hurt myself in 2010? I was freaking out. Freaking. And then, in 2011, when I thought I might be hurt, but luckily I was only on my way to being hurt, and I went to PT and got better? I was freaked a little then, too. This time?
Not freaked. At all.
So what if I can’t run? It’s not the end of the world. Okay, yes. Those other two times were before big races: FULL marathons that I’d been training for forever. This time, I’d like to PR at the River Run Half at the end of October, but maybe it’s not meant to be. Even if I have to stay away from impact sports, I could still pool run. Maybe I’ll train in the pool.
The other things that I think are keeping me from freaking are:
- My diet is under control, so I don’t feel like I have to exercise to eat (thank you Bob Harper).
- I have been practicing recognizing when things are out of my control. So many things have happened in the past two weeks where I’ve needed to practice this. I’m getting good at it. It is helping me live in the moment and be happy.
- I’ve been itching to swim and bike.
Maybe I’ll become a triathlete. Triathletes are pretty freaking awesome. I feel like I won’t get injured as much training for a triathlon. Of course, there’s the whole falling off the bike thing.
So, whether it’s a stress fracture, just shin splints or something else, I’ll be okay. I’m just going to roll with it.
Have you ever been injured? How did you deal?
25 comments
What an awesome attitude!!! I hope it turns out to be nothing, though 🙂
Thanks, Pam! I’ve been working really hard on being positive. 🙂
Does it actually hurt or does it only hurt when you press on it? Can you hop up and down on one leg without pain? Does it hurt when you’re running? Because I ALWAYS think I have a stress fracture when I have one particular sore spot but I CONSTANTLY hit my shins on things and don’t remember it later – so maybe its just a bruise???
Well, my calves are definitely tight when I first start running and then they warm up and are fine — but that’s how they were when I got hurt in 2010, so I’m scared, you know. I haven’t tried to hop, but it is sore just sitting here.
In April I started getting calf pain so I hauled myself off to PT… all the massage/ice and stim, stretching did nothing. My leg didn’t hurt when I wasn’t running and it didn’t hurt all the time while running……
I was suppose to run a half in May but downgraded to an 8K because my leg still causing me trouble so figured I better be safe. June came and I had another half to run. I hemmed and hawed and kind of took training easy, still going to PT/also a Chiropractor who did the Graston technique on the area but the leg was not getting better but it wasn’t KILLING me and I could walk just fine and wanted to do the half … so I said I’d walk it… Got bored and ran the last 8 miles. ha! ANYWAY, 3 days later I went to the sports medicine doctor who sent me for an XRAY/MRI. She did not feel I had a stress fracture because I passed all the “tests” but wanted a closer look.
2 days later I got the call to NOT run, jump, hop, skip, bike, etc and come in to see her. I did indeed have a stress fracture and not any ol’ stress fracture. The worst kind you could have that IF I had continued to run I could have literally broke the bone. ACK!!!!!! On top of that I had an inflammation of the connecting tissue to the bone that was causing more grief to my leg. Who knew??????????
So, not to say that’s what you have BUT after my whole ordeal and thinking I’d be in major pain with a stress fracture, well, so not true. I functioned normally except when I ran.
I’m on the sit around plan now, going to PT twice a week, they also use a electrode machine deal that shoots stuff to my bone, and I have a machine at home that I use 20 minutes a day to help heal the bone faster.
So, I learned my lesson and am never going to mess around with the “it doesn’t hurt that bad I’ll just keep running on it” business…. Hoping to be back on the pavement come September.
Wow. Glad you stopped. That’s why I stopped running ASAP…fear of making it worse. I hope they can tell me something useful on Tuesday so I don’t do any extra damage! And I hope it continues to heal and you get back out there pain-free in the fall!
Great attitude Kerrie!! And I’m still waiting for the post on Bob’s skinny rules…wink wink 🙂
I swear I will get to it! 🙂
First, it may be nothing. I have had shin splints feel like that before and all it needed was to get rubbed out.
I have had a bunch of injuries and I am curruntly not running due to an IT band issue that just does not want to go away. And, I ahev to say, this is the first time for me too, that I amnot freaking out. I am acutally pretty ok with not running and am enjoying the break.
Hope you find out what it is soon!
I think it may be shin splints — I really do. 🙂 Hope you get your IT band figured out!
Hoping it’s nothing major 🙁
I had some shin splints and they mostly hurt after a run or right when I started the run. My chiro said it wasn’t a stretch fracture. Finally a few weeks ago I got a tiger tail and used it on my calf. I felt lots of knots and the next day it was super sore but haven’t had shin splints since!
What is a tiger tail? I have been foam rolling.
It definitely sounds like shin splints, but I don’t blame you for getting it checked out. Better safe than sorry! I’m glad you’re feeling calm about it though– less stress will help you heal faster too!! Good luck at the PT!
Thanks Mary!
I could have written this post! I just dealt with a few weeks off due to some shin/calf pain and it was the first time that I was totally fine with it. I took a solid 2-3 weeks off, and have been able to ease back in this week. It’s nice to be at that point where an injury doesn’t have to completely flip you upside down! But I hope it turns out to be nothing big. 🙂
Glad you were able to pick it back up in just a few weeks. I like this not stressing out thing.
I hope it is nothing friend.. I wont be jumping on the triathlete bandwagon with you.. Hope things with your FIL and your family are OK. See you Sunday.
Thanks buddy.
thank you for giving me this much needed perspective! having signed on for my first marathon, I’m soooo paranoid about getting injured. and at the same time, getting in more swimming is on my bucket list – now I will look at any injury as an opportunity to finally get in on a masters swim practice 🙂
My best advice is don’t do speed and up distance in the same training cycle. And make sure you work some strength in. Just take things easy and you won’t get hurt! Thanks for the nice comment!
Good job on making an appointment right away, better safe than sorry! Since you caught it early, it might nit be anything serious at all. Good luck!
Hope so!
So sorry. Hope it is nothing, but you are definitely being very smart about it all. I had a hamstring injury in March. Not fun at all. Took off running for awhile and had PT/the works. Now I am full training. Have to wear my thigh sleeve for every run. One thing it taught me is my form sucked. Too much heel striking. So now with full training I have slowed my pace down a lot and focus more on form. My goal for my full is simply to finish. It has taught me to enjoy the run more. I wish I was a swimmer though. I may consider tri’s too if I enjoyed swimming. You will be in my thoughts. Hope everything will be okay.
Thank you, Jolene!
Oh man, I’m dealing with tendonitis right now. It stinks like crazy. BUT I will tell you that I had very localized pain, and there was one spot that hurt like crazy if I pressed on it. But an MRI revealed no fracture. Sooooo…there’s hope for you! It stinks being injured, but it’s also been fun exploring other things…like playing guitar and swimming, which I didn’t do when I was able to run! Good luck!