The 150-mile (over 6 days) Fire & Ice Ultramarathon is coming up in just 3 months.
So...I've run literally 1000s of miles in the last decade of racing/stupidity and except for a few minor falls, have never had any injuries.
But training with a backpack (weighing between 12-20 lbs) for the upcoming Fire and Ice. 250km Iceland's Toughest Foot Race in August changed my gait and how I strike the ground with my left foot.
And it hurt.
When it started hurting, I immediately took a break from running and let it rest. Because I'm smart and reasonable. And pain is your body telling you something is wrong.
Except, OF COURSE I DID NOT ACTUALLY DO THAT. I tried to power through and keep up all my miles with a full pack until last weekend when I basically couldn't put any weight on it after mile 3.
Which is how I ended up getting an MRI on my foot yesterday (and having a near panic attack during the process...fun times. Seriously, a friend had to call me from across the ocean and talk me down from my panic ledge.)
If you've never been an MRI... them suckers are LOUD. Like, machine gun loud. I was unprepared, even with the noise reducing headphone things. And for some reason I felt the urge to keep my arms wrapped around my head the whole time even though it was only my foot in the machine.
Anywho.
The results were not as bad as they could've been. The area of my foot (left, top, near ankle) is significantly inflamed (evidently that circled white stuff isn't supposed to be there).
Tibialis anterior tendonitis was the official diagnosis.
And really at this point "only" an overuse injury, so I didn't have to hear words like fracture, tear, no race, don't swan dive off the roof, etc.
But it does mean having to slow some things down (cutting the weight of the pack back to 8lbs from 15lbs) and reducing my mileage.
Not what I wanted to hear 3 months out from the race.
Doctor told me to just...be reasonable (after, of course, giving me the WTF look that everyone gives me when I tell them what I'm doing).
No worries, Doc, reasonable is retty much my middle name, as evidenced by the fact that I'm running a 150 mile race through Iceland.
So, 12 weeks to go, training was: Mon - 7 miles run, no pack
Tue - CrossFit
Wed - 6 miles run, no pack
Thur - off
Fri - off (MRI)
Sat - 5 miles walk, 10lb pack Sun - off
Total = 18 miles; 1 CF
Oh, and the doctor gave me this sexy new ankle brace. Goes gorgeous with my salmon colored trail shoes.