This entire week I've been good. I didn't run, walk, climb or jump on this foot. I figure, baby it a bit and then maybe it will let you run your 6 miles on Sunday. So I did. It was hard. I even got jealous watching other people running (you know it happens to you too!).
Yesterday, Saturday, while doing some shopping with the fam, we made a stop at Walmart. I picked up some of this:
I know, old school stuff. I wanted something to take the pain away and something to massage the muscle.
This is not a "serious" pain but it is a nagging one.
When I hurt my iliotibial band last year I knew I had an injury and not an ache and pain. I couldn't walk let alone even attempt to run.
This is not that kind of pain.
It's there, I can feel it, but it's not debilitating. I chose not to run this week to prevent it from exacerbating. I mean I have a half marathon to run in November and a full marathon in February. So I can't afford injuries.
About 4 hours before going to bed I took 1 ibuprofen and then massaged my foot with the cream. I had also been walking around all day shopping. So it was aching a bit anyway. It felt better instantly. So I was hopeful for this morning.
5:55am: I woke up, took 2 ibuprofen, and massaged my foot with cream. I put in my contacts, got dressed, warmed up and stretched, and then got ready to head out the door.
6:45am: I left the house and started running at a slow pace. I felt really good! I was amazed and impressed with my body! Although I had the hope that my foot wouldn't hurt, I didn't actually believe it deep down. I guess I had proved myself wrong!
7:13am: My foot started hurting. I was really bummed but I knew that if I kept running it would just get worse. Afterall, there's no point in finishing this 6 miles if afterwards I couldn't run for 3 months with a serious injury.
7:26am: I was in front of my house and didn't really want to go in. How disappointing. I didn't finish my run. I guess I have what is officially called an "injury". WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME!!!!! Ok, calm down. My foot doesn't actually hurt right now. What would happen if I tried to run again? Yes, I ran again.
7:41am: I was back at the house after finishing my route! My foot didn't hurt a bit! Success!
When I started running again my foot felt fine. I'm not sure why. It's like it just needed to get warmed up. This has happened to me before with other muscles. I'm running and then the muscle feels tight. I don`t want to stop, so I don't, and the pain eventually goes away. I guess that's what happened in this case.
When I got back into the house, before stretching, I took 2 more ibuprofen and massaged my foot more with the cream. I then proceeded to stretch, shower and wash my hair. As I type this my foot feels fine. It is tight though. Like how your muscles feel after a really long run or a really good weights session.
Most importantly, based on what happened today, I've changed my marathon training schedule.
It's shocking, I know. But I feel good about it.
- Instead of running based on miles I will run based on time.
- I am also going to run more frequently
So I will run. If after 20 minutes I feel a slight pain in my foot I will stop. Once the pain subsides I will start runing again. I'll do this cycle until I finish my running planned for the day.
This week I will run not more than 40 minutes and then I will increase it the following weeks as I see fit.
I figure this will help me stay in shape while I nurse my foot pain. I plan on running every other day. This week I'll run Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. While the following week I'll run Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
After each run I will massage my foot with cream. I'll take the ibuprofen when I need them.
What do you think?
I would be careful taking ibuprofen (or any pain killers) and then trying to run on an injury. when you have pain, your body is trying to tell you something...and when you mask it with pills, you can make something minor into something far more serious. but other than that - it seems like you are listening to your body, which is the most important thing!
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely right. I'm usually not even a pill person. I guess I was thinking today, take the pills and avoid swelling. Maybe that'll be better in the long run. Right now I think I'll just stick with the cream because it makes my muscles feel better. If I feel more pain I'll just stop running altogether. I haven't taken anymore pills (or used the cream) since 745 this morning and my foot feels fine!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear you made it out on Sunday, even if not as planned! I think your plan is great, most importantly, continue to listen to you body! And I couldn't agree more with what Rach said above (and your response).
ReplyDeleteIt's so not worth it to run 6 miles, if it means 3 months of NO running, period.
Hope it keeps getting better!
I was thinking.. you should do some Foot Exercises, I am not familiar with any off the top of my head.. but google is great, LOL. Maybe strengthening your foot will help as training continues?
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I wanted to put an update on yesterday but I had a million and one things to do. So I will today. Definitely going to take your advice and look up some exercises. It actually feels better when I'm walking, running and exercising, than when I'm doing nothing! Weird right?
ReplyDelete