Races Like a Girl

Specifically, my left shin.

In my brief history of competitive running, I’ve had exactly two incidents of “injury.” (The quotations denote the dubiousness of these having been bonafide injuries.)

In the first case, I suffered through the first four months of a five month training program for my first marathon with shinsplints. The cause was classic: I ramped up mileage and intensity at the same time. And, as usual, I was too stubborn/oblivious to change my ways. So I huffed handfuls of Tylenol and suffered through my runs and tuneup races. A month before the big race, they mysteriously went away, never to return.

In the second case, I suffered a slight tear to my right calf’s fascia. This came as a result of doing lots of racing (and not enough recovery) during the height of training for marathon #3 on a Pfitzinger 18 week/70+ miles per week plan. I also limped around with that, only going to an orthopedist 10 days before the race. He told me to — you guessed it — huff the painkillers and I’d be fine.

I had no issues in the ensuing nine months. Until yesterday, when I was visited by a periodic sharp, stabbing pain on my left shin, sort of between the muscle and the bone. I ran and walked fine on it. I could go for hours without an issue but then, without warning, sitting in an easy chair, the icepick would be thrust. Speaking of ice, that didn’t help.

I took a painkiller last night and hoped for the best. Today the pain’s gone.

This is why I don’t worry about such things as much as I find them annoying. They never turn out to be anything serious. I am extremely lucky in this regard.

Filed under: injury |