Quiet you!
Having no plan goes thusly: If I felt like only running a half-marathon I would only run 13.1 miles, then quit. If I felt like 16 miles was plenty, I would stop at 16, no worries and so on… etc. Mind you I did promise myself if my trick back went all Quasimodo (all contorted and hunched over like) at any point in the race I would stop. To be honest, I really felt if at any point after 13.1 miles as I knew I could run that far I would stop. I swear. There was one problem I didn’t anticipate however, my will is not as weak as I thought. Imagine that? I didn’t realize that in the actual race I would find it harder to get myself to quit and drop out like a sane person, than keep going despite that under increasing mileage my calves were tightening into something akin to beef jerky. This “strategy” would have been fine last April, but perhaps not this October where my lack of truly long runs and a summer rehabbing my old man-ish back led to my legs turning to stone around mile 18.
Regardless I finished the race, in unspectacular fashion of course.
The positive, my back never was a problem and I was elated. The negative, I seem to have lost the back issue and gained some patellar tendinitis in my knee, and I was dejected with the thought of more down time for recovery. Or worse. So my running has been on hiatus since the marathon, I can ride, swim and just about anything else, but running is on the outs until I get this licked. That’s a figure of speech not a medical prescription. If it were prescribed I would already be healed, I’m certain I could find a dog or vagrant to lick my knee for a few bucks and cure everything quickly. But it’s never that easy, fortunately it is more sanitary.
No running, that has been the story over the last month, including taking last week entirely off to give this knee time to fully heal. It feels like it has helped and hopefully I can get back to running in short order. Only time will tell, and time as been mum so far. But I will (pardon the pun) “run” a test again this week to see where I stand, or worse if I can’t.
But I’m hopeful, with an Ironman looming next summer I have to be in good health to get in the proper training. Not nursing a host of nagging injuries as I limp to the starting line as my trusty pooch cleans my knee caps.
Noel,
I had a bad marathon too. Plantar fascitis is NO fun. BUT I think sometimes we overlook that we still did a huge thing! Finished a freakin marathon. 26.2 miles is LONG. Congrats on pulling through and just finishing. Sometimes the races that we suffer the most we learn the most from. You will do great next year. Good luck.
Jenny
Ah plantar fascitis… Dreams of injuries past memories. I’ve had that as well and I have to say of all the kooky socks, rockers, straps, balls, rollers, balms, ointments, and other items that fall closer to snake oil, they try to sell you three things actually worked.
1. Sleeping on your back, or if you must sleep on you stomach with your feet off the bed pointed downward.
2. Ice, ice that darn foot, it’s easy you just step on it, no ace bandage required.
3. And if you can a Strassburg sock, loved that thing. Looks dopey, feels odd, but keeps your foot from curling in overnight. Nothing like stepping out of bed what feels like shards of glass. The sock can help that.
BTW, It’s nice to know someone other than my mother reads this…No offense Mom.