The shin soreness from Sunday's run has taken for the worse and now there is a sizable swell on the lower part of my right shin, just above my inner ankle. It hurts each time my foot lands with impact i.e. walking down steps. So running is definitely out of the question.
To say I'm frustrated, is quite an understatement. I don't know what went wrong. I managed my left foot injury pretty well, I believe. I eased into running. Only running once a week. Progressing from 6.7km to 9.7km to 13km. I haven't even ran more than an hour in one session!
The sub 11 hour target at Ironman WA this December seems a bit shaky at the moment. And if you know me well, there is no race I would compete in without giving my best. I even had a look at the withdrawal policy and sad to say, only $350 (about 50%) would be refunded for withdrawals prior to 1 October.
So on monetary grounds, me being an accountant and all, I would still continue with the race. It doesn't hurt when I cycle or swim (it does slightly if I kick off the wall in a wrong angle, but there are no walls in the open water, right?). And I'm still feeling pretty fit, cardiovascular wise.
I took a day off yesterday and made some appointments. I first saw an occupational therapist in Health Central, Mount Hawthorn, courtesy of a complimentary session from a text message. Fortunately, it was confirmed that I do not have a stress fracture. And the swell is likely to have resulted from overstressing on my right leg since I was recovering from the injury on my left foot. I was prescribed a tube of Traumeel anti inflammatory gel and a bottle of magnesium for muscle recovery.
Then, I paid a visit to UWA Podiatry Clinic. It was quite an interesting experience actually, the young student podiatrist fiddled with my feet and went away to refer to his lecturer every now and then. I spent about 1.5 hour there but was given needling treatment to loosen the muscles around my shin.
I'll avoid running for a couple of weeks. Despite this setback, I'm still feeling a bit optimistic (maybe deluded?) that I can still pull off a sub 4 hour marathon split on race day and achieve that sub 11 hour target after all. Even with a 3 week running layoff, I still have 7-8 weeks to get my running legs back into action. After all, isn't the marathon leg of the Ironman mainly shuffling anyway?
6 comments:
Hope you'll have a speedy recovery in time for the IM WA!
Rock Tape man
It feels awkward to be resting now (for the running leg), when we are in the midst of a hard training, right?
Get well soon bro!
Reita: I hope so too! Thanks!
Sofian: Yeah, should try it out. But very stingy. Keeping the samples for race day.
Nik: Awkward alright. But enjoying the sleep in on my usual running days. Replacing them with strength workouts instead.
i was just doing some random googling and some interesting findings. you cud be experiencing 'shin splits', cud be from over striding. rest well and slowly increase your pace.
Hi Li Choong, nice to hear from you. Yeah most likely shin splints. But fortunately no stress fractures, mainly soft tissue strain. Would take a few weeks off running then ease back into it.
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