I took a couple days off of running for some recovery and went back out for a four to five mile run around my neighborhood. No problems. Afterward I felt a little niggle in the spot that hurt after the big non-event. I really didn't think anything of it. The day after that I got about two miles from home on a post-work run and the niggle was back. It was back and a little more bothersome. I finished my route (which I was halfway done with anyway) and decided to give slack off on my running to let this heal before it snowballs into something worse.
Six days later, no problems from my left foot, I decide to hit it again. Post work six miler: done. Post work five miler: piece of cake. Post work five miler: hurm....maybe should have rested? I just that small niggle creep up again. I woke up the next morning and it felt fine. I went to my gym and worked out. Jumping switching lunges: fine. Weighted box step ups: no problems. Nothing. Later that day. Kind of a niggle. What the hell?
So Saturday, a group of us went to the Morgan Monroe State Forest with the plans to run the Three Lakes Trail. I was kind of worried about the foot, but woke up with no pain in it. So I decided to play it by ear. I wanted to do two laps (each lap being 10 miles) and my friend Chris joined me.
The run started out fine. My quads and glutes were experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness so the hills on this trail were tougher than I wanted. We were cruising along and my foot was fine. I decided the soft trail was just what the doctor ordered. Pounding on concrete and asphalt aggravated the spot more than anything. Eureka !!! One more reason to not like road running.
The day's run ended up being a twelve miler. My legs were taxed from the previous day's weight work and I figured I could get a longer run on my day off in the middle of next week. My wife and I met up, said goodbye to our friends who wanted to do more miles, and we were off for home.
While I was taking my socks off at home, I squeezed my foot where I was experiencing the here today gone tomorrow pain. I immediately felt a sharp pain where I was squeezing. Not good !!! My foot felt fine otherwise, but when I squeezed it....Yipes !!!! So, being the genius I am, I sat on the edge of the bed squeezing around the spot until I mentally mapped out the injured area and irritated the spot into hurting. Hurm.
My wife, who rolled her ankle on the run, was doing a cold water bath for her ankle. When she was done, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to do so for my foot. Twenty minutes in a cold bath will cure it all. Then we decide to go downtown. Walking around and no problems. I get home and give the spot a slight squeeze and.......yipe. Not so bad, but I'm not happy. "I'll just not run tomorrow," I decide.
So on Sunday I wake up. Foot check: slight niggle when squeezed. Hurm. Later in the day I do the worse thing I can do with a running injury: Google foot injury symptoms. Mentally, I decide to reject anything that says I have any kind of foot cancer. I look for running injuries. Find that midfoot strikers could develop stress fractures in their metatarsals. Or that it could be a bruised bone.. Hurm.
Then I make the decision that if I'm looking up symptoms or causes for this sharp pain, I better just make an appointment with my doctor. Monday morning I secure an appointment with x-rays and make a Jesse Pinkman meme and post it to Facebook.
Torn Tendon ? Could it be that? Hurm....So then I start googling all the possible tendons on the side of the foot and symptoms of tearing or injury. Most of the injuries involve loss of balance as a major indicator. I didn't have this, so I'm back to stress fracture. Then something in my head tells me that I have a doctors appointment and that I need to get the fuck off the internet. I decided to listen to the voice.
The next day I get an X-ray done. My doctor runs me through a battery of movement drill and I pass each one. I tell him that I'm not really bothered physically by the injury, except when I run on roads. (or sit and pinch, poke, and squeeze the area minutes at a time.) He takes me to see my x-rays and I'm walking around the hallways with only one shoe on. He says my bones look fine in the problem area. No cracks, breaks, splinters, fissures....nothing.
So we go back to the examination room and he tells me that my somthinginlatinus tendon may have a tear in it, but it is most likely tendonitis. He then proceeded to tell me that this is an injury most commonly seen in dancers. (Dancers that do lots of leaps and jumps.) I told him that the week prior to the injury I was practicing running down hills and trying to get faster at it. Then how at the Paynetown event non-event I was trying to bolt down the hills in order to give my quads a rest. This information seemed to back his diagnosis.
I was given two choices: a pricey MRI scan to help determine for sure what is causing the sharp niggle or to try not running for two weeks, do ankle strengthening exercises, and take an anti-inflammatory. I chose the latter and he agreed with my decision. He gave the go ahead to cross training and weight workouts but to avoid any running.
I'm relieved there aren't any bruised, fractured, or broken bones. Tendonitis or a tear is something that can heal more quickly than a compromised bone. I'm more disappointed in the fact that I have a "dancer's injury". Shit, my last major injury was more commonly found in soccer and hockey players. I'm amused and lucky that I've been avoiding typical runner's injuries but shit. I'm really resisting the urge to squeeze the spot though. I haven't had any niggles today. Technically, I hadn't run two days prior to the doctor telling me not to run for two weeks so I'm kind of on the fourth day at the time of this writing. Piece of cake. My personal trainer wrote me a leg heavy program and didn't want me running too much while doing it anyway. (just look at that optimistic silver lining attitude !!!) So, I'm winning there.
But still......hurm.
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