I haven't really addressed the subject of running lately and that is because I didn't want to jump the gun and jinx myself. After nearly 2.5 months of cross training, followed by 1 month of absolutely no workouts (well, I cheated and did about 2 weeks of nothing and then 2 weeks of hikes), I began to trial running again. I think my first run back was 6 weeks ago for a total of 15 minutes and was the most painful thing ever. I was disappointed and frustrated, so I emailed my doctor to let him know.... that was back on May 13th. I only JUST heard back from this doctor yesterday (June 24th). Wow, and people wonder why I say doctors suck.
The doc basically wanted to know how it was going and whether I had heard anything from St.Paul's hospital yet with regards to my 2nd MRI and Ultrasound. I debated not even answering him as I was less than impressed with his lack of response for 5 weeks; however, I responded and gave him a brief rundown and told him I had not heard a word from the hospital yet. He responded quite quick saying that he would email the hospital. I left it at that.
Back to running. I started back 6 weeks ago on May 13th. I completed a week of 15 minute runs, also supplemented with elliptical. Let's just say 4 weeks off of no real workouts or cardio makes for a really unfit me! 30 minutes of elliptical nearly killed me. It was hard to believe I would be on the machine for much longer than that! But day by day it got easier and easier.
The second week I moved up to 20 minute runs. Things felt okay, but not perfect. It was nice to run again, but I felt like death. 20 minutes never felt so hard. I moved up to 30 minutes and then 40 minutes. My long run each week is now at 60 minutes starting this week. Even though I am running, I must say that I am not completely healthy. My injury is still somewhat there; however, it is MUCH better than it was before this whole ordeal. I get aches here and there, but no major pains. I don't have a lot of substance to my training yet. My actual workouts are still done by cross training (bike lately) so its just a lot of easy and steady running. I will take it for now.
Races have gone by and it is really hard to sit by and watch. I am happy for all my friends who are running new PB's and I find it very motivating; however, that small part of me is jealous and itchy to get out there and race. I should clear up that I am not jealous of their performance, but more so jealous that they are out competing and challenging themselves, while I sit back and watch. I know I will be back though and am using all the spectacular race results to fuel my motivation, so thank you very much to all you healthy racers as you are playing a part in my recovery as well!
So where do I go from here? Well I continue to take it day by day. I have no idea what a few weeks from now will hold, but I hope to continue building on where I am now. I hope to continue running and to have the aches go away. I monitor myself and adjust my runs as needed. If I hear from St.Paul's I still plan to have the MRI and Ultrasound. Why you might ask, considering I am running again? Well the way I see it is that maybe the next set of tests will reveal either the injury itself or some healing for the injury. Maybe it will shed light as to what exactly happened and what I was dealing with. I still have no idea. People ask all the time "what was your injury" and my answer is "I still have no idea, no one could tell me, no test has reveal answers yet."
Will I get an answer? I would like to hope so, but if I can get back to training and racing like before without any of these issues, I will take that over getting an answer. I just want to race. I don't want to get left behind, I want to be up there with all my competitors and friends celebrating our successes! In the meantime...... I must be patient. The biggest lesson of this whole injury. I used to stress over the little things and I have learned how insignificant those "issues" were. Patience is the key. Trust your training and go with it. So I will continue to be patient. Good luck to everyone in their upcoming races! I may be envious that you are out there racing, but I am still cheering like crazy for you all!
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