Pretty, huh? In retrospect I shoulda just jogged the 10 miler on Sunday. I thought the only way I could end up not running my sub-40 this fall would be an injury. I don't need speed training, plyometrics, tempos, ... Just less weight and decent mileage. Well, I was absolutely total fine on Monday and did my regular 8. On Tuesday, I had a tightness behind my ankle, which I, from previous experience, knew was the location of my peroneal tendon. I thought it would loosen up. It stayed tight and got tighter, but I ran my 8 anyway (cue the "stupid, stupid, stupid" sound effect). I felt OK afterwards, but after getting to work, it tightened up and I limped my way in from the car.
I thought I'd be an adult and took 3 solid days off. Didn't even cross train. Lots of ice and ibuprofen and I had no problem walking on Thursday. I took Friday off because I thought I'd be extra cautious. I tried to run Saturday, but I could feel my tendon. It didn't hurt, but was a little uncomfortable and just the fact I could feel where my tendon was wasn't a good sign, so I stopped at 5 minutes and walked home. Later in the day I swam 1700m at the pool (~50 minutes).
This morning, I went back and looked at my log. Actually I googled "peroneal tendonitis elliptical" and the first hit was a coolrunning thread where I was the second responder. I wrote I had peroneal tendonitis (diagnosed by an orthopedist). I felt it more on the edge of my foot, but also behind my ankle. I got it after my first race (a 10 miler). I just looked back at my logs. I ran in pain for 4 days, then over the next 10 days I used the elliptical trainer on 7 of them and took 3 off days. Then I ran 10 of the next 12 days, noting foot pain. After that I stopped putting foot pain it in my log.
Geez, I ran on it for 10 days with some pain after two weeks of elliptical? I figured if I waited for no discomfort, I'd wait forever, so I gave it a gentle go today. I did 40 minutes on the treadmill. I could feel it, but it wasn't terrible. It grew some over time, but not horrific. After the run I immediately iced. I'm walking around fine tonight, so I think I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe I can get to 50 minutes without hurting the next day's run. There's always a balance with these things. If you want to be in shape X days from now, the best approach probably isn't to wait until you're fully recovered, but to come back running a little less and then work to full volume as you get better. That's how I'm rationalizing it anyway. Look forward to another "stupid, stupid, stupid" post soon.
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