A new injury & a REALLY long run

So in my last post I talked about my 18 mile run. A HUGE milestone for me and a run that went really well. I felt pretty good during the run and after.
WELL.....then I took the next day off (Monday)--which, by the way--one good thing I can say about these long runs: they allow me to actually LOOK FORWARD to Mondays. I usually hate Mondays. But since I've been training I love knowing that all I have to do the next day is get up, go to work, then come home and do NOTHING! And I usually allow myself to also enjoy a bowl of ice cream on Monday nights too! Okay lets be honest--the ice cream is the thing I look forward to the most! But I digress....

Anyway, so I took Monday off and Tuesday morning decided to run on the treadmill. Yes, I hate the treadmill, but it was still dark when I got up and honestly, I just wanted to zone out and watch TV while I ran. The first 3 miles felt fine, then suddenly I felt a pinch above my left ankle just below my calf muscle. I decided to just run through the pain to see if it would go away...well it got worse and didn't go away. In fact, after my run was over my calf was REALLY sore. OH GREAT.

So I took some Advil (Advil by the way is becoming a part of my daily routine--I take a multivitamin and then Advil...and then later more Advil. I know it can hurt my stomach but I don't care. My whole body hurts and it helps so there. I swear Advil is what keeps me going most days. Is this addiction? Can you get addicted to Advil? Hmmm...)

Advil sort of worked but just to be safe I decided to skip my run the next day. Thursday I ran with Stacey, who has just returned to running after quite a hiatus due to plantar fasciitis, and I was really looking forward to running with her again. I made it 2 miles before the pinch returned and had to stop and walk for most of our run! At that point I was getting really frustrated and really scared too. I took another break the next day and STUPID ME---wanted to still go ahead and try to do my long run that Sunday--13 miles. Surprisingly I made it 8 miles--and felt great! Then just into mile 9--the pinching came back. But instead of stopping, I wanted to see if I could go just a little further. I barely made it 10 miles. Which, looking back was probably pretty stupid.

Finally, I got in to see a Physical Therapist. She is a runner too--in fact she's run 30 marathons and almost qualified for the Olympics! She made me feel a LOT better--I was afraid she would just tell me to quit whining and take a week off, but she didn't! She actually wasn't too concerned about my calf. She it is likely just an overuse injury and that from here on out I can expect that every time I run SOMETHING will probably hurt. She advised me to keep running, but to STOP as soon as the muscle starts to cramp. (Oh Stopping...huh...what a concept!) Then go to the gym and finish the run on a bike or elliptical machine. YUCK. But at least I don't have to quit running altogether. (and yes its weird that I didn't want to be told to stop running. Hey...I've made it this far--why quit now!) She said that at this point in the training I'm essentially ready (HUH? Ready? I don't feel ready!) but that the important thing is to keep up my endurance, heal this injury and prevent any further injuries.

Thankfully each run this week got a little better. I was able to go a little further each time without cramping and I did cross train one day on the elliptical and the bike, which was boring but seemed to help.

Sunday was my longest run yet---19 miles. Anthony had to run 20 and I figured "Hey what's one more mile?" So I decided that I would aim for 20 and if I had to stop at 19, well then I did what I was supposed to do. We ran the Big Papio trail again--we started around 7:15 AM and finished around 11:00 AM. I felt pretty good most of the way. The hardest part of long runs is that they are boring. Yes I was with Anthony, but after 3 hours of running, you start to run out of things to say! But we soldiered on--we met another runner along the way who was training for the Dublin marathon! And I am happy to report that I was able to eat a Powergel without any...uh...stomach/bowel trouble. (Gross, I know, but hey there is NO bathroom on the papio trail!) I actually think that the gel is what got me through the last 6 miles. So I'll be trying that again during my 20 mile run.

At about 18.5 miles my calf muscle started hurting again. I was mad, but also thankful that I had made it that far without any trouble. I pushed myself to go to 19 and stopped and walked the rest of the way....okay, okay so I ran a LITTLE more, but I didn't get all the way to 20. Oh well! I did what the schedule said!

After the run I was sore, of course. My calf muscle hurt, but not nearly as bad as it had the past week, but I do have a new sore spot on my left shin. I'm icing it as I write this. My new best friends: ICE & ADVIL...oh yeah, and Ice Cream!

So this week--its 5,8,5 and 12 miles...then the following week will be my highest mileage week yet culminating with my longest long run of 20 miles and then its time to taper! I can't believe I'm already at this point! 18 weeks ago, October 11th seemed so far away and now its just over 4 weeks away. If I survive this training I think I can survive the marathon. But I still have a ways to go.....117 miles to be exact.