Patience. It’s one thing that I am not particularly good at. Add in the fact that I tend to be competitive by nature, and we have a recipe for disaster. So, as I mentioned in my opening blog, I am recovering from: 1) a year of sloth-like activity level, and 2) a sprained ankle. Therefore I have been trying to get back into my former running shape through a walk/run program, which is how I became a “runner” to begin with (I use the term “runner” loosely. I was really more of a slow jogger.)
Becoming a runner has been an education in patience. Although all of the resources out there warn against going from 0 – runner too quickly, I am sure there are plenty of people out there who have done it without incident. I am not one of those people. I have had collapsing arches since I was 13. I had an ACL reconstruction on each of my knees in 1997 (and for good measure, they took some meniscus out of my left knee, too.) I am overweight. All of these things scream “DO NOT BECOME A RUNNER!” But I wanted to become a runner. So after consulting with my old PT, I did one mile – “run a pole, walk a pole.” Then “Run 2 poles, walk a pole.” And so on. I iced my shins after every one because I had a shin splint scare, and I stretched religiously. It took a couple of months of constantly telling myself to stick with the plan and not to do too much even though all I wanted to do was ramp up the mileage. When I went through my triathlon training and was able to finish the run portion with a 5K PR at the time, I knew that I never would have gotten there without patience.
Now I am starting over from scratch. Adding a recovery from injury to the mix has been especially frustrating for me. The sprained ankle wasn’t the big problem – it was the 2 months between the initial injury and getting into physical therapy that really messed things up. I was overcompensating and ended up weakening my right leg. So…I had to go even more slowly. Also, I had already signed up for the Margaritas Cinco de Mayo 5K on 5/1, and I knew that there would be no way I could run the whole thing. LAME.
Fast forward to this week. I had gotten a couple of good 34% run/67% walk for 2.5 miles at a pace that was almost as fast as my 5K PR pace. I felt great, so I bumped it up to 3 miles on Easter. Still felt great, and I held the same pace! The patient runner would continue to train at this pace and intensity for a couple of runs before increasing, right? Well, I got greedy on Tuesday and did 3 miles at 50%walk/50%run. Did I mention that this was also the first time that I had rested less than 2 days between runs? Yeah.
The run started out well enough. I was definitely feeling winded but OK. Every time I would run my shins would hurt but that has been typical for me while ramping up. About a mile in I took a step and suddenly the shin pain upon impact was sharp, but only for one step and then it went back to normal. I told myself I would stop if it happened again. I finished up without any trouble, but after stretching I decided to skip the ice and jump in the shower, because I am dumb like that sometimes.
I am supposed to run today, and I know I should get some miles in before Sunday, but my left leg has other plans. It does not hurt to walk, but my lower leg is really tight. I tried to massage the inner part myself, and it is very tender. The competitor in me wants to run tonight, but the realist in me knows that I should rest. Besides, if I can’t keep my patience in check today, how will I be able to do it on Sunday during a 5K? Knowing that I will probably push the limit on Sunday, I am better off letting things calm down a bit. I think I will take Cash for a long, slow walk tonight.
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