Stress Fracture

Those words every runner hates to hear… You have a stress fracture.

 

I heard them yesterday. Not exactly the Valentine’s Day gift I was looking for.

And although I wasn’t happy to hear it, I wasn’t surprised either. I’ve had leg pain for about two weeks now. Pain that made is really difficult to keep my pace, and eventually even hard to run.

 

After many attempts to feel better by icing, rolling, stretching, and heating, I bit the bullet and went to the doctor on Friday.

 

Google told me it could be anything from shin splints to a stress fracture, so I was hopeful it was something more on the minor side.

I was cautiously optimistic that the physical therapist would give me a firm lecture about stretching more and I’d be on my way.

 

When he told me he thought it was a stress fracture, my heart broke.

 

Yesterday, x-rays confirmed what he thought. I have a stress fracture in my shin bone.

After a few tears, and a mini pity party, I shifted gears.

The doctor didn’t say my dreams to run the San Diego Rock n’ Roll marathon in June were out. I didn’t even have to stop all physical activity. I just have to modify my plans.

 

Challenge accepted.

 

So, for the next two weeks, I’ll be rockin’ a boot on my right leg. Then the doctor will take another x-ray and see if the bone is getting better or worse. Then we can make a plan to SLOWLY build back my mileage.

But the wonderful news is I don’t have to give up physical activity. I can still spin and do weight training to keep my cardiovascular fitness up and improve my muscle strength.

 

And another thing that I’m really excited about is cleaning up in the eating department.

 

I already eat very healthily, but with all those miles, it’s hard not to treat myself to indulgences more frequently than I should.

But the fact is I feel better when I eat clean. Cutting back on the running means I need fewer calories, and those calories should come from nutrient dense food. Not sugar cookies.

 

So while this isn’t exactly the blog post I wanted to write about my status of my marathon training, it is the start of a new experiment.

 

Coming back from a stress fracture to run a marathon four months later is pretty exciting. I hope I’m typing out that blog post on June 5th.

Any runners out their have a story about coming back from injury? If so, I’d love to hear it in the comments below!