Part of my lack of posts this month has been in part because of the complete and utter horribleness of my running this month. It started a bout six weeks ago since we had a six mile run with an average pace at about 8:39, afterwards I had a small twinge in my right quad that has been mildly irritating since then. Over the past three weeks I have taken extra rest days to try to get back to normal, but it hasn't helped. Add to the rest, ice, compression and Advil and it has still gotten worse.
I have had a string of pretty awful runs, including 8-10 mile runs that I have not been able to finish without an embarrassing amount of walking, and ending with four miles of hill repeats where I was running with a noticeable limp.
I broke down and called my family doctor this morning, mostly because I can usually see him the same day. It's nice to have a doctor that is a former runner too. I thought I would see him first and if it was more serious I could always go see my favorite orthopedic doctor.
Dr. Stout has diagnosed me with a strained quad. He said I am lucky it's a strain and not a tear, because a tear would mean no running for a year. As it stands, it will be no running for two weeks, and after that I will be running in compression shorts until I can run without them with no pain.
So running and I are gonna have a little break. I have been cleared to swim, or spin or do yoga if I don't have pain. I can honestly say that after training pretty much non stop for the last year, I am okay with a short break. I have no races on my schedule right now, aside from the OU Medicine Corporate Challenge this weekend where I will not be doing the 10K on Sunday.
I think a couple weeks off will be good. I have not been loving running this month, and I want to love it again. It has been miserable and really hard these past few weeks. I don't want to dread getting up to pound the pavement, I am ready to feel strong again.
Two weeks will put me at being able to have a nice early run on my birthday. There is no better way to start a birthday than a run with my friends at the crack of dawn. I can't wait.
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I'm glad you decided to ask your doctor and that nothing worse was wrong! It's probably good to take a break when you are hating running even if you aren't hurt so you have a chance to miss it :)
ReplyDeleteI am excited to miss it a little, it's no fun running when every step is painful and it makes it that much harder mentally!
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