Getting Serious

After my injury, I took a break from everything. I didn't run, I didn't exercise and this was easy to do, because it was the end of the holidays and bowl games and parties were keeping me busy. But then I went back to work and when I was traveling, I was trying to think of what I did with my free time before running. I guess I watched TV, read a book, stared at the Hotel wall...I mean there is only so much email you can answer. I also started to notice a little extra weight and a little heavy breathing after carrying my daughter up the stairs.

So I started to ride my bike a little (a Sears special that weighed about 40 lbs). and I did a few short runs to test my leg. But the weight was still there. I didn't have any motivation because I didn't enjoy biking as much as running and I didn't have a set goal.

I found out my neighbor, Misty was talking Julie into swimming 3 times a week at the County pool. I had done this after my stress fracture, but didn't stick with it for too long. Now, however, there was a group going, and that would help offer me some motivation. So off I went at 5:30 on a Monday morning. It felt good to do something. I have figured out that I am not a 'workout' kind of guy. I don't enjoy gyms or machines. I need to do something, accomplish something. I enjoy testing my endurance and looking backwards to see how far I have come (literally and figuratively). So when Misty, an accomplished Triathleat and an Ironwoman to boot, tried to talk us into a Tri...I said why not.

I started to get a little serious about riding my bike and I swam every Monday and Friday that I was in town. I picked an Olympic Triathlon that was near my in-laws so the SAF (Spousal Approval Factor) would be high. I was happy again, I was motivated and I was looking forward to trying out something new.

Try a Tri

It has become a cliché, a runner gets injured and has to take some time off, so during the forced hiatus they take up another sport. I have become the cliché. I was in the midst of training for the Gasparilla Distance Classic Marathon and I really wanted to make this my signature race. I slowly ramped up my mileage to about 55-60 miles per-week-with a peak over 70 miles-per-week. I was in great shape, the distance felt like nothing to me. I could feel my speed improving.

To make this race even better than my previous marathons, I was going to do it with my sister...it would be her first marathon. I finally had someone to talk about every long run, every early morning, every post run recovery drink and every ice bath. With this being her first she actually wanted to hear it all...unlike most of my friends and relatives who's eyes just glaze over as they politely nod while they are really thinking,"Isn't this the same story I heard last time...and what the heck is a fartlek?"

Well of course I got injured. It was some kind of slow building, mysterious injury that manifested itself in my right calf. At first I just ignored it...just my body adapting to the higher mileage. Then I ran through it..."pain is just weakness leaving the body." Then I accepted it..."maybe I need a few days off." So I took all of 3 days in a row off...a huge concession I thought. Then I tried to run through it again..."just need to tough it out...it will go away." Finally I took two whole weeks off...a lifetime for me. I came back and gutted it out for another week so that I could do a 21 miler with my Sister when I visited her. I did fine and the pain was manageable, but as I went running later that week I realized that I forgot what it felt like to run pain free.

My leg would only hurt while running...I could not duplicate the pain any other way. And like the old joke:

Patient: Doc, it hurts when I do this.

Doc: Then stop doing that.

I had an epiphany...I need to stop. It sounds so simple, but running was such a part of me that it was hard. I went through all of the self pity you would expect. Most of my Christmas presents were running related and I couldn't use them. I was mad, sad and everything in between. I had been through this before, but I felt like I was older and wiser. And this time my injury was more elusive. With a stress fracture I had a date that I would be better and could start running again.

After I got over my self pity and realized I had gained weight and lost fitness, I finally got off my but.