Could I BE any more discouraged??...

I seem to have hurt myself. How?? I thought I was doing everything right. Warm up - stretch - run (certainly not over-training for godsake) - stetch some more - cool down. I kept reading that beginners sustain injuries because they overdo, or they don't stretch, or warm up, or make animal sacrifices, or whatever. I did it all by the book but I am having pain enough to have a walking limp, say nothing of running. WTF!!

My sad story...

So yesterday was Day 1 back from vacation and I had the day off so I could do unpacking, laundry, etc. The weather started out crappy and I kept putting off a run, waiting for it to get better - and it did! By 5PM it was nicely cool with sunshine peeking out so I headed for my trail. It was close by and I figured that after running up some hills the past couple of times I could really boogey on the flat trail. I did the usual, started out with an easy 6-minute warm-up, then stopped to stretch. I don't feel I stretched too far or too hard and felt fine when I finished with it, but when I started running I began to immediately have pain to my right outer, lateral malleolus area. Specifically, a very localized area extending about 2 inches up from the anklebone, and also behind it. It felt like a cramp and it wasn't severe so I kept on going easily but after about 1/2 mile it wasn't resolving so I stopped to stretch it a little. Somehow that made it worse because when I started off again I was favoring it too much to be safely ignored. The really shitty part was that I was more than a mile into the trail so I had to gimp it back out - feeling just incredibly defeated the whole while. The thing is, I didn't twist it or pop it or traumatize it in any way. It must have been something I did when I was stretching, though there was nothing extreme or unusual about my stretches.

When I got home I iced it for awhile and there was no visible inflammation. This AM it was still painful enough to cause a limp while walking and also the area was tender to touch. The pain vacillates from an ache to a burning sensation. This afternoon there was some minor swelling around the anklebone so I took an NSAID, which has made it feel much better – but I’m reluctant to mask the pain and unwittingly do more than I should. I did get an ACE compression wrap and that feels really good and helps me to not limp and alter my gait. I’ll see what tomorrow brings sans NSAID and take it from there but for right at this moment I am frustrated and disappointed and depressed. I am 8 days away from a 5K that I certainly needed more training for at this time, and now I’m losing days. I move back and forth between the idea of taking my time, shit-canning this 5K if I have to, and allowing proper time to heal whatever the hell I’ve done – or, on the other side, wrapping it, taking some Motrin, and at least putting the time and distance in – even if it’s slow and easy. I don’t know quite what to do. I don’t want to injure myself further, but I don’t want to have to stop for a period of time and lose what little ground I’ve gained (or crap out on all my 5K goals this summer). I feel stupid for having some kind of painful injury with the goddamn little that I do, and spending so much energy trying to do it “right.” Ok ok, I have been fighting this self-flagellation all day – just needed to let a little out here, then putting it in a box.

Should the world fail to fall apart…

All right, self-pity party’s over for the moment. I will re-evaluate tomorrow, or the next day, or whenever the pain subsides, and hope for the best. The reality is that I am willing to forego this upcoming 5K if that’s what it takes to heal up, as I am really really looking forward to the Bluegrass Ramble 5K at the end of June – so it’s worth it to me to not exacerbate a problem. However, if I am feeling improvement over the next day or so, I really want to get back out and do something, anything to keep moving forward. If I have to run/walk next weekend’s 5K at least I will have started, finished, and given myself something to move ahead with.

I guess I’m not surprised…

Running is not linear, nearly nothing in life is. I know this all ready, yet I keep waiting to “get on track” and follow a nice smooth progression from Point A to Point Infinity. When has that ever happened? When has life ever been anything but up/down, back/forward, in/out, over/under? That’s how ya do it – and really that’s the amazing part of it all (when we can appreciate it – and c’mon, it’s hard to appreciate the crappy stuff!). So I am going to place this experience in the “Oh, so things didn’t go exactly according to plan?” file – if there’s room – and go from there.