SAFD:
Good Morning runDisney All-Stars! Today’s question - A motto in running circles I have often heard is “It’s not if a runner will deal with an injury, but when a runner will deal with an injury”. Is this true for you? Have you had to deal with an injury, how did you deal with the mental side of the injury?
My answer: I have been running injury free for a few years now and have become convinced that run/walk is the secret for me. Unfortunately, it seems that the injury bug has found me. Late summer and now early fall I have been training for MCM and a few weeks ago I noticed some knee stiffness after runs. I kept running and the stiffness post runs became a little painful, then real pain…. So I stopped running and visited my PT, a quick exam and description of my symptoms he shared what I already knew he was going to say; I have runners knee and have to shut it down for two to four weeks. Oh, and I am only seven weeks out from MCM…. I am good with the physical plan, but I suck at the mental game. I look at every runner on the road and wish I was them. I plan out my scenarios and how I might manage to at least finish MCM. Oh, and I waste a lot of energy simply being frustrated. So I suppose I am not good at the mental side at all, but at least I am following my PT’s guidance (even if I am choosing to ignore the fact at 4 weeks I might learn it will be longer). Positives - Dopey is still a realistic objective, I can continue my strength training, walk and this is only a rest and recover injury; at least no surgery or long term recovery.
I've been running semi-regularly for 30+ years, but more seriously in the last several years.
Until recently my only injury was shin splints 14 years ago, which went away with taking a week off, plus investing in new, better shoes. ( I became a believer that that was money well spent!)
I also attributed being injury free to interval running and not over-training. I reference my tongue-in-cheek HARM method, but one feature of the shorter runs is minimal recovery and no injuries. I also don't push myself overly hard, which I mention because I have some very fast running friends who have been fast right up until injury sidelined them.
I would love to be a lot faster, but I also like being able to walk into work without issue the next day.
Until now, in which I've had two maladies hit me back to back.
The first was a searing pain down the front of my thigh, which I could have taken care of sooner had I gotten myself to PT sooner instead of self-diagnosing and thinking it would get better on its own. It turns out that all the stretching I was doing wasn't helping this situation. A month of PT and a new stretching and strengthening regimen, and that issue is (I hope) behind me.
The other issue is the Morton's neuroma which has been around for several years off and on but mostly as an occasional occurance, not to the extent as now.
Like Bree's comments about her own pains, I think that some of the (hobby related) work I've been doing on concrete floors has aggravated the Mortons. In addition to consciously making sure I don't further aggravate it further, a new pair of walking-around shoes, plus two pairs of Hokas has allowed me to resume MCM training, with hopes that the maladies remain at bay long enough to complete the race.
I'll probably try a cortizone shot as well, to see if that helps reduce the inflammation.
Mentally: I was going batty with not running and obsessing over how much training time had lost. OTOH, after only 2-3 weeks I'm back to decent run times.
IMHO, follow your PT's guidance with an eye on the long-term gains. Hopefully you'll recover to the point of being able to do the MCM, but if not, keep an eye on MW. Otherwise, if you overdo it, it might impact both events.
That's my 2-cents. Good luck.