Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Fin

It looks like I'm taking some time off from running.

There is what appears to be a piece of bone protruding from my ankle, and while it doesn't hurt terribly to run on (??), it does hurt to walk and also to the touch. I have to call Denise's hospital to make an appointment for a bone scan, which can't be done for another two weeks, so at this point I figure I'll just take those two weeks off anyway and I bet it'll be better by then.

This means that my already severely unfit self is going to become less fit each day, until I'm reduced to my running ability circa 1995. For your reference, this is when I started running cross country and ran my first 2 mile xc race in 18:10.

In the meantime I guess I will just try and make the effort to swim everyday and ride inside during the week (egad) and outside on the weekend. Not that I shouldn't be doing those things anyway, but for me it's always easier to run when I don't want to do anything else (e.g., now).

What this also means is that I will not be doing any sort of group runs for probably a very long time, as my reduced fitness will not allow me to keep up. I'll be lucky if I can be back to an 11 mile long run by the end of this calendar year I think, which will certainly not put me in a great position for the Miami Half Marathon or XC Nationals, but I'll have to make do.

I'm not really sure how some people are able to not run for long periods of time and be able to crank out halfway decent results, or run at all for that matter. If I take three days off in a row I lose everything I've worked to attain over a period of months. Just goes to show how very little natural ability I have, and proves why I don't take days off if I can avoid it. I'd always rather run hurt than not at all.

8 comments:

Arjun Majumdar said...

Wow. Its kinda the bad news you expected. So do they think it is a bone spur or something? How is it going to get better in two weeks? Also, how do you think it happened?

Ben said...

sorry to hear that ryan. a protuding bone is just nature's way of saying it's time to take a little break. i think you'll be able to come back more quickly than you are saying - especially if you keep swimming and biking. All that accumalated mileage does make a difference. i think it's like blowing up a balloon - it's a lot easier blowing it up the second or third time than the first time.

RM said...

Everything that's wrong with me is related to just one bad day. As much as I am too proud to drop out of a race, if I had crystal-balled this scenario, I would have dropped out of New York, tried to gain a little fitness and jumped into NCR instead.

I think the ankle problem is from the flats, and more specifically how I was landing in the latter stages of the race.

It's weird because everything feels alright right now, but it's just not letting me run.

The problem I'm facing right now is my overall level of fitness is so low. If I had been riding and swimming this whole time I wouldn't feel as bad. Right now I'm starting from scratch with both.

I'll get back into shape at some point, just won't be in time for early season stuff. And I'll be absent from most group runs for a while, which isn't fun.

THE KRIS said...

for what it's worth, i remember when i started with the group. i promise you that i was in much worse shape than you will be able to fall into in the next month or so, esp if you ride/swim. while it wasn't easy, i managed to keep up. of course i was working a lot harder than everybody else, but it


was worth it just to have the motivation of running with others. while the time off will be hard, and the road back not so fun, i don't think it will be as bad as you think.

also, i'll be running a lot of slow miles between workouts and long runs(3-4 days a week) , so you'll have somebody to run with most days if you want.

BG said...

Dude, I'm sorry to hear that. If I was in Baltimore, I wouldn't want to miss the group runs, either. I think that after Cherry Blossom 2006, all I did the rest of the year were the group runs, and there weren't so many of them back then.

But, since I'm here in Vienna and don't have group runs (though I suppose I could call one of my two running friends) I haven't put on my running shoes even once since my marathon, and that was before yours. October 19th. I have to admit I'm starting to get bervous now, since I might want to race as early as February (cross country) but until now I have found lots of cool things to do that I didn't get to do before, due to running and being tired from running. And I'm not even the slightest bit injured. I'm sure you can find cool things to do, too, like shorties, that will take your mind off of your true love for a while.

And don't try to come back too fast. The Kris is right: you'll be fit faster than you think, even if the first few weeks suck.

Jake Marren said...

Those T-5s are pretty flimsy. My ankles felt "very compressed" for the few days after NYC. I don't know if I would race a marathon in them again. But then again, they felt really slick for about 20 miles.

I am sure you will bounce back stronger than ever. You need some rest. In college, I frequently felt "unfit" if I took a few days off. I am starting to think that it was a confidence issue. I only felt confident when I hammered a run the day before. This is a counterproductive mental strategy because the days I felt most confident, I was not rested or ready to fun fast. Confidence should derive from the unflinching dedication to a training program which naturally includes periodic down time.

alyssa said...

if you need an activity in your time off, I'll be launching websdic.com soon and I'm looking for a web developer.

RM said...

Thanks for the positive thoughts everybody. Over the last couple seasons I've had a bountiful assortment of injuries, each one that I've handled at the time and run through. I think more than anything right now it's my brain can no longer handle being injured, and no longer has what it takes to run through it.

The problem now is that if I don't start running again before the winter comes, I can honestly see myself not running for months. At some point I'm just going to have to suck it up and get out there, or commit to bike racing for 2009!