(Please note- I am not a doctor or a psychologist. I am sure that I made some mistakes in this post when explaining my injury and diagnosis. I also know that exercise addiction can be a serious issue, but I do not believe that I have a serious problem; however, I do recognize that I have to be smarter about rest and listening to my body.)
Do you read my weekly recaps and think I work out a lot? Have you ever thought that maybe that I work out...too much? Is that possible? Have you ever taken a minute to assess your relationship with working out? Could you possibly be working out too much?
I have always thought that an exercise addiction was the best addiction to have. Its not as bad as being an alcoholic, a drug abuser, a smoker, an over-eater, a shopoholic, right? It seemed to me that there are a lot worse things to be "addicted to", versus working out. Besides, we're supposed to "sweat every day", right? Several of the bloggers that I read (i.e. Skinny Runner, Run Eat Repeat) are women who are running back to back marathons in one weekend, or running 26.2 several weekends in a row. My weekly recaps pale in comparison to their milage. Even "locally", I know that I am not the only one in my group of friends who does two-a-days, and some of my running friends are pushing 50 miles a week off-season.
But every BODY is different. I need to know what is too much for ME, and I think I was doing too much.
And just a few days ago, two of my really close friends (who know ME) actually reached out to me (unbeknownst to each other) expressing concern that I was overdoing it. They were concerned that I was doing too many two-a-days, not resting enough, and letting exercise rule my life.
These are two friends who are just as active as me. They are accomplished marathoners who run multiple marathons a year, and cross train/strength-train/yoga frequently as well. But their concern was that I am not currently training for a marathon, yet I was running 40 miles a week and doing multiple two-a-days.
It felt a little like an intervention, but I took their concern to heart. Its good to know that these friends are looking out for me, and care about my well-being. Unfortunately, the intervention occurred just a bit too late....My body had already decided I was overdoing it.
Here's the backstory.
I ran hard on Thursday morning- 7 miles at a pretty quick pace for me. Then I did a kettle bells class at Balance Fitness that evening. By the end of that class, my shin was really, really sore. I took Friday as a complete rest day, and then toughed out an 11 mile run on Saturday morning.
My shin really bothered every step of the way on those 11 miles. It was all I could think of- the pain!!!! Eeks!
After icing it throughout the day Saturday and Sunday, it still never felt any better. It hurt just to walk on it, which definitely had me concerned.
After reaching out to friends who have had both shin splints and/or stress fractures, I realized that I probably had a stress fracture. Shin splits are usually painful along the whole shin, whereas my pain was isolated to one spot, and it didn't feel better after rest or ice, (whereas shin splits normally would).
I finally decided to just go to Tria Orthopedic's after-hours for an x-ray. This clinic is open every day from 8 am to 8 pm (even on Sundays!), which was totally convenient and awesome (two thumbs up for Tria!)
There was no visible fracture on my shin, which could be true even if there was a stress fracture. What we did see was a visible thickening of the bone cortex right at the point of the pain on my lower shin.
The doctor explained to me that every time you run, your bones are "damaged" so to speak. Then you rest and the bones heal. If you don't rest enough between runs, the damage never heals completely, so every time you run again, you are further damaging the bone. Running too far or too hard before you body has adjusted could also do more damage, which means more time to heal. Your body builds more bone to try to compensate for the damage (hence the thicker part of my shin visible on the x-ray), but that only helps for so long. Eventually, the bone gets more and more irritated, until it potentially cracks, or fractures.
It appears that my injury is right at that "really irritated" stage. There was no visible fracture (though an MRI would be necessary to completely rule out a fracture), but clearly my bone is not happy. The doctor prescribed no running for 2-3 weeks and the boot.
Yep, the boot. The good thing is that I only have to wear it for 2-3 weeks, and then I can start running again. During the 2-3 weeks, I can cross train as much as I want (as long as there is no pain).
After 2-3 weeks, I will try running again. If I am still in pain, then I will go back to get the MRI to determine if there really is a stress fracture. If, after 2-3 weeks in the boot I feel better, I can slowly increase mileage again.
For now, I'll be putting my YMCA membership to use starting tomorrow morning, swimming laps again to try to maintain my cardio fitness. I also plan to do yoga (modified if necessary), the elliptical, and spinning as well.
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| Yay, more of these goggle eyes.... |
Fortunately, however, I caught this early enough, and I should still be able to run the Securian Winter half marathon, as well as the Flying Pig Marathon May 4 in Cincinnati.
Lesson Learned? Going forward, I plan to only run 4, maybe 5 days a week but NEVER 6, and NEVER twice in one day (like I did this day). I also plan to really, really cross train- either the elliptical, a spin class, or swimming. Too often I decide just to do another run, instead of these other exercises....I just love running too much. But I want to be able to continue to run in the years to come, so I will have to be smarter about rest.
And a THANK YOU again to my concerned friends. Within my group of girlfriends, there are a lot of really dedicated athletes, but it can be difficult to really know when too much is too much, particularly when comparing myself to these other athletes. But I should not be comparing myself to anyone else.
Unfortunately, my body told me I had done too much, before my mind knew it in this case. Its unfortunate, yet I am so glad to know I have friends in my life who are looking out for me. I'm just a girl, trying to find the "RIGHT FIT" in terms of fitness, and I obviously make mistakes. Sometimes I do too much of one thing (i.e. running) rather than giving my body the rest and recovery that it needs to stay healthy and strong.
I'm learning as I go, and hopefully sharing my experience with all of you might help you as well on your fitness journey.
REST!
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