Monday morning injury report

Well, after several weeks of sleeping less at night, my lower back is feeling much better. I should never have let my physical therapist attempt to loosen up my back in the weeks leading up to a marathon. Better for me to run with a tight lower back and pain free back than one that hurts.

So not to self – just say "no".

But I have exchanged one injury for another.

I went from my lower back hurting to having my Achilles tendon hurting.

Normally, this type of thing gets hurt when you are running max mileage – due to overuse, but in this case I hurt it during my during my taper for the marathon. It is not longer "Myrtle Beach Marathon" but just the "Marathon".

Several weeks ago, I picked a pair of the 2xu tights. And they worked great. However, I noticed that my Achilles was a little sore after each run in them, but then I was running 90 miles per week so little soreness is to be expected from time to time. And, it is not the tights, but the band that wraps around the ankle. It is just way too tight. The darn bank rubbed my tendon into submission.

But in the week, leading up to the marathon, I wore them 3 times. Then I did 20 miles on that Saturday. But the end of our run, my Achilles was really hurting and by Monday it was swollen to the point that you couldn't see the ankle bone on either side.

All week, I grinned and bared it. On Saturday night, it was really swollen after standing on my feet for parties the last 2 nights.

On Sunday morning, I stayed off of it and iced it down before the race.

Around 12 noon, I took a Motrin in hopes that it would dull the pain.

Ugh, the 3 mile warm up was anything but fun. I figured this was one of those races where I would be happy just finishing and equally happy if I could still walk away from it.

I headed back to the car 15 minutes to switch out to my racing flats before the race.

I tested out Achilles. Hummm, it didn't hurt as much in the race flats as a posed to my trainers. I still don't know why.

Went to start and just ran.

Didn't feel too much during the race, but afterward it caught up with me.

I am setting here now with my foot elevated and with a bag of ice on it.

I am also wondering how I am going to run 20 miles in the morning.

 

Running with injuries – thoughts from the Cool Down Runner